Words Between Friends
by AshleyK16439
Summary: A/U. Morgan and Reid are passing notes. See what they say. I made them alot funnier and less serious than on the show. Also a protective Hotch. I got the idea for this story from "Phoenix on cloud nine". Thanks for letting me use your idea! My first Criminal Minds fanfic! Rated T for some language. I just changed the cover pic.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:**

* * *

The team was in the breifing room. Reid was talking at his normal speed, saying way too much way too fast. "...People were dying so fast from the plauge they resorted to burning the bodies, because there was no time for a proper burial. The citizens back then-."

"Reid," Hotch said in a voice that sugested he stopped talking. Reid shut up, and slid a little lower in his chair. Hotch turned to JJ saying, "Continue."

Morgan nudged Reid's left elbow, and passed a sheet of paper to him. It said:

**Awwww. Is little Spencer pouting because Daddy yelled at him? **

Reid kicked Morgan under the table. He saw a flash of pain across Morgan's face but Morgan quickly covered it up. Morgan grabbed the sheet of paper again and wrote:

**Damn kid. I was only teasing you. **

Reid sighed and scribbled back:

_Sorry. I'm having a bad week._

**Yeah. Hotch has been riding your ass all week. I think something is going on with him and Hailey. **

Reid angerly wrote:

_Yeah, and I like how he takes it out on me. :(_

**Sorry kid. :(**

Just then Hotch said "Wheels up in thirty!"

Everyone was in such a scramble to leave the room, Reid and Morgan forgot the note on the table. Hotch saw it and picked it up. He frowned when he read it.

* * *

On the plane Reid and Morgan were playing cards when Hotch walked over and stopped in front of Reid. He took a deep breath before saying, "I know that I have been hard on you this last week, yelling at you over the littlest things and I just wanted to say that I am sorry."

"It's fine Hotch." Reid said quietly.

"No its not." Hotch shook his head. "Things aren't going well between me and Hailey and I have been taking my frustrations out on you. It was not fair to you and I'm sorry for that."

Reid nodded, and Hotch walked away, taking a seat next to Rossi. Everyone was staring at Reid. He and Morgan shared a glance. Morgan slid a piece of paper across the table, knowing that they couldn't talk without the rest of the team hearing their conversation.

**I think he seen our note from earlier. Did you grab it from off the table?**

_No, _Reid wrote back, wide eyed. _I went back in there to grab it and it was gone. I thought you took it._

**Oh shit. We are in trouble. **

_I don't think so._

**Why not?**

_Because, if he was going to yell at us for passing notes during a breifing, wouldn't he have yelled at us just now?_

**Good point. **

_I wish everyone would stop staring at me. _

**Don't pay attention to them kid. Just focus on our card game and they will look away.**

Reid did focus on the game and soon he felt everyone going back to their buissness.

_Thanks Morgan._

**No problem kid.**

* * *

At the next breifing Morgan got a text and tried to look at it but Hotch saw him.

"Morgan. Put your phone away." He said

"Sorry Hotch." Morgan slipped his phone back into his pocket. He felt a nudge on his left elbow. He saw Reid pass him a note.

_Awww. Is Morgan pouting because Daddy yelled at him?_

Morgan kicked him.

"OW!" Reid cried, craddling his leg.

"Are you two finished?" Hotch asked, glaring at them.

They blushed and looked forword again.

Morgan passed the note back to Reid.

**Pay back is a bitch. **

_You kicked me alot harder!_

**Are you going to go whine to Daddy about it? **

_Shut up Morgan!_

**And if I did kick you any softer, I wouldn't have even touched you. **

_You calling me a wimp?_

**Yes. :)**

Morgan saw the glare he was getting.

**Calm down kid! I was kidding. I don't think you're a wimp. Honest.**

He saw Reid's face soften. Reid knew that Morgan never lied.

_Sorry for getting so pissy right away._

**Its fine.**

_Who was that text from._

**Someone.**

_Who?_

**Why are you Nosie Nelly all of the sudden?**

_Why wont you answer the question?_

**Because its none of your buisness.**

_Come on Morgan, you can tell me!_

**My sister.**

_You have a sister?_

**Two accually.**

_Who have you told?_

**Just you. I don't want the rest of the team knowing, especaily Hotch. **

_Why not Hotch?_

**You know. He can be a bit... **

_Yeah. I'm glad that you trust me enough to share something like that. _

**You know me better than anyone kid and I know that you wont tell anyone. **

_You can tell me anything Morgan. I need you to know that. I wont tell anyone. It will stay between you and me._

**I know kid. Thanks.**

_Anytime. _

The breifing ended and Reid made sure to grab the note this time. Hotch was still packing up his stuff as everyone else filed out. Reid was the last one out the door and tossed the crumpled up note towards the garbage can. He was allready out of the room so he didn't see that he missed the can. Hotch picked it up and read it. He felt horrible that one of his team members didn't feel comfertable telling him something like that. He was going to have to fix that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

* * *

Morgan sat next to Reid during a sexual harassment meeting. They were seated at one of the many tables scattered across the room. Emily and JJ sat at the table to the right and Hotch and Rossi sat at the table to the left. Morgan tapped Reid on his right elbow and passed a piece of paper to him.

**Dude. I'm so bored!**

Reid grabbed his pen and wrote:

_Me too. _

**I don't get why we have to go to these meetings four times a year.**

_Statistically three months is the average time for- _

Morgan snatched the paper away and scribbled:

**I didn't want to know Reid. I was just complaining.**

_What else is new?_

**Watch it kid.**

_Okay, sorry. Wanna play hang man?_**  
**

**No. You will use some really long, hard word that I have never heard of and wouldn't ever hear of again. **

_Fine. :(_

**Alright kid. I'll go first. **

_Star wars._

**How in the hell did you guess that?!**

_I'm awesome! :)_

Morgan laughed before he could stop himself. Everyone turned and looked at them. When they finally looked away, Morgan felt a nudge on his right elbow. He turned and saw that Emily left a note on his table. It said:

**Would you two stop passing notes?!**

**Or what?**

**I will beat you with my chair.**

**That would be a form of harassment. ;)**

**Don't push me Derek. **

**I would never hit a girl. And why are you so mad today?**

**My cat died. **

**I'm sorry Em.**

**It's fine. I am sorry for getting mad.**

**Its okay. Who have you told?**

**Just you and Reid.**

**Okay. We wont tell anyone.**

**I know you wont Derek. What were you and Reid passing notes about?**

**We were playing hang man.**

**Of course you were. You two are such children.**

_Hi Emily!_

**Hahaha. Hi Reid. Thank you for proving my point. :)**

_Well to most people, I am a child. And they treat me like it too. Hotch does that a lot._

**I think I know why. :)**

**Me too.**

_Why?_

**You honestly don't know?**

_No. Why does he treat me like a kid?_

**For a profiler, you can miss a lot.**

**Awww Em. Give the kid a break. Even Rossi says, "The things we miss the most are the clearest to others." That is a bitch slap of truth right there.**

_So you guys aren't going to tell me, are you?_

**No. Some things you have to figure out on your own kid.**

_I guess you guys are right. _

**We always are. :)**

**Hahaha. Thank you for the compliment Em!**

**No problem Morgan. How is your new dog?**

**Good. I'm teaching him new tricks and already have him potty trained. **

**That's great Morgan. **

**Em, ask JJ when we will probably be getting the next case.**

**She is asleep.**

Morgan and Reid both leaned forward in their chairs and peered around Emily. There JJ sat with her eyes closed and her chin to her chest. Morgan and Reid shared an amused glance.

Then a piece of paper hit Reid before bouncing off and hitting Morgan. They looked over to their left where Hotch and Rossi were glaring at them. Hotch pointed to the front in a gesture for them to pay attention to what the woman in the front was saying. They slumped down in their seats and crossed their arms.

**Awwww. Did Daddy and Uncle Davey yell at Derek and Spencer? :(**

**Shut it Prentiss!**

Despite the note, Morgan and Reid found it funny that even Emily referes to Hotch as the dad instead of an uncle.

_Don't you have something better to do than to pick on us?_

**No. This meeting is so boring that I almost fell asleep before I started passing notes to you guys like third graders.**

_But its more fun than listening to the woman in the front of the room. _

**Very true. **

**Do you guys see how many people are asleep right now? **

They looked around the room and only about fifteen out of fifty people were awake. Five of them being Hotch and his team, except for JJ.

**Hotch should be proud that all but one of his team is still awake!**

_Hotch is never proud. _

**Good point. **

**If our team was a family; Reid, Emily, JJ, and I would be brothers and sisters, Hotch would be the dad, Rossi would be the Uncle, Garcia would be the fun aunt, but who would Strauss be?**

_The mean old grandma that nobody talks to or invites over. _

**Hahaha. Yeah kid. I think you have her pegged pretty well. **

**I want a fun aunt. :(**

_You don't have one?_

**No.**

**Ask Garcia. I'm sure she would be happy to be your fun aunt. :)**

**Lol. I'll think about it.**

**Okay.**

_Hey Morgan!_

**What?**

_I don't know._

**Wow kid. You must be really bored.**

_Yeah._

**Why don't you profile the guest speaker while your older brother and sister talk? **

_Lol. Alright._

**The kid has the attention span of a five-year-old. **

**Yes, but the knowledge of someone who has grown old.**

**Very true.**

All of the sudden JJ tried to roll over and fell out of her chair. The loud sound made some of the other agents jerk awake and fall out of their chairs. The team stood up from their chairs and Hotch was next to JJ in an instant, helping her up.

"Are you alright?" Hotch asked.

JJ nodded and sat back down in her chair, her face as red as an apple.

Once the meeting had settled down, the woman at the front continued talking as if nothing happened.

**Hey Em! Do you think I can hit the woman in front with a spitball from back here?**

**Now you are _really _acting childish.**

**You didn't answer my question. **

**Hmmmm... From fifteen yards away? No.**

**You wanna bet? **

**Twenty dollars.**

**Deal.**

Morgan ripped some paper off of the note and put it in his mouth. He grabbed the straw out of his pocket. He purposely put it in his pocket so he could shoot spitballs. When the woman turned around, Morgan put the straw in his mouth and shot the spitball at her. It hit her in the back of the head.

"Who did that?!" she demanded, her hand cupping the back of her head as if someone threw a book at her.

Morgan held his hand out to Emily below the table. Emily sighed, digging in her pocket and handing Morgan a twenty-dollar bill. Morgan smiled and shoved the money into his pocket. He glanced at Hotch and the smile immediately fell from his lips. Hotch was sending him a look that clearly showed that Morgan was going to get an earful after this meeting was over. He shrunk under the gaze and casted his eyes down to the table.

_I finished the profile! _

**Good for you.**

_Do you want to hear it?_

**No.**

_Why not?_

**Because if I wanted to know her profile, I could do it myself.**

_Okay. :(_

Morgan felt bad for hurting the kid's feelings.

**Don't feel bad Reid. Morgan really _is_ pouting because Daddy yelled at him.**

**Shut up Prentiss.**

_It's okay Morgan. You get used to it. :(_

That made Morgan and Emily look up at Reid in surprise. Reid shrugged and wrote:

_Hotch yells at me a lot. He yells at me over my littlest mistakes. Most of the time when I'm by myself and sometimes when you guys are around. _

**Why didn't you tell us Reid?**

_It's no big deal. I don't need your help. I can handle it. _

**Okay Reid. If you need us, let us know.**

_Okay._

When the meeting ended, Hotch went out of his way to grab the note from the garbage just to read it. When he finished he knew that there he definently had to talk to his team.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

* * *

Reid was shaking like a leaf. Hotch had just called a team meeting. Morgan and Reid were sitting next to each other at the round table and kept looking at each other.

Hotch walked to the front of the room. "All right. It has come to my attention that this team has some major trust issues. Morgan, you have a sister and a dog. Reid, you think that I yell at you too often and over the littlest things. Morgan, Reid, and Emily all think that I am approachable for anything."

Morgan stood up. "Wow Hotch! Way to blurt everything out to everyone that was in a _private _conversation that you digged through the trash to look at! There is a _reason_ why we have trust issues on this team. Until you figure out why, there is nothing to talk about."

He turned and left with Reid and Emily right on his tail, casting dirty looks at Hotch. JJ and Rossi followed. Hotch buried his head in his hands.

* * *

Everyone in the building was taking an IQ test. Reid of course was finished within five minutes. After about twenty minutes he started a chat room with Morgan.

_Finish yet?_

**Just did. **

_How do you think you did? _

**Not nearly as good as you.**

_Hahahaha. That's a good guess. Have you talked to Hotch yet?_

**Nope. **

_Same._

**All three of us are avoiding him like the plague. Now don't go and start shooting out facts about it because I don't want to know.**

_I have no one to share my knowledge with._

**Poor little Spence. :(**

_Yeah! Poor little me!_

**Lol. So does Garcia know about what happened in the meeting? **

_I was going to let you tell her. _

**I ain't about to tell her. She has too much on her plate to worry about drama right now.**

_Good point. _

Morgan e-mailed Emily saying:

**Em, once you're done with the test join our chat room.**

Five minutes later Emily joined the chat room.

**Hey guys.**

**Hey Em.**

_Hey Em._

**What are my two favorite guys up to?**

_Planing world domination._

**Hahahahahaha! Sounds like fun. May I help?**

_Sure. I'm head scientist. Morgan is the leader of the army. You can be our leader. _

**Okay. What does our flag look like?**

**A hand holding up its middle finger.**

**Very classy. **

_I am working on a bomb that will destroy only a few people at a time but placing them all over the world so when they explode all at once it will spell "All Hail Emily!"_

**Very practical.**

**I am going to get the best sculptors to put your face on the Sphinx.**

**How sweet.**

**Thank you. :)**

_So what would your first law be?_

**Forbidding any stupid commercials!**

**I like that one a lot. **

**Thank you General Morgan.**

_Ooooo! Do I get a cool name too?_

**Dr. Reid.**

_-_- Really?_

**What? I think your name is cool.**

_Really? :)_

**Yeah kid. You have to work a lot harder to become a doctor than a to become an agent. And it takes a lot more time too.**

_Thanks guys. :)_

**Is it just me or is Hotch staring at us?**

**He is looking at us. Just ignore him.**

_He is _really_ starting to creep me out._

**Just keep looking away and pretend like he doesn't exist. **

_Good idea._

**I may not be a genius but I have been known to come up with good ideas every once and a while. ;)**

_That's a shocker._

**Carefull kid. **

_Tee-hee. :)_

**Lol. Reid really is a kid.**

**You're just figuring that out Prentiss?**

**No. And it's _Queen_ Prentiss to you General.**

**Sorry your majesty. **

_You guys are getting way too into this._

**We are just having fun kid! Something you should try sometime.**

_Hey! I have fun!_

**Organizing the periodic table alphabetically is not fun. **

_I went to a night club a couple of nights ago._

**On a _case_. Then got thrown out and sugested that you go to the library insted.**

**Hahahaha. That sounds like Reid. **

Reid slammed his laptop shut and crossed his arms, obviously pouting.

**Way to go Morgan. You made our little brother cry.**

**He isn't crying yet, but looks like he is about to start.**

**He knows that we are just teasing him, right?**

**Yeah, he'll be fine.**

**Hotch would kick our ass if we made Reid cry.**

**Yeah.**

**Do you think that Reid really doesn't realise that Hotch thinks of him like a son?**

**The kid did seem pretty clueless.**

Reid logged back in but didn't type anything right away. Since he had just logged in, he couldn't see what Morgan and Emily had wrote.

**Hey kid, I'm sorry for hurting your feelings. I was just teasing you. I didn't mean anything by it.**

**Yeah Reid. I'm sorry too.**

_It's fine. I guess I'm a little emotional with the whole Hotch thing going on. _

**Yeah. It's got us all wacked, kid.**

**Lets just change the subject... Do you remember Will from New Orlands?**

_I remember everything._

**What about him?**

**JJ and him are going out. **

**Really?**

_Good for her. He seemed like a nice guy._

**Yeah, they have been dating for a while. **

**He hurts her, and I am going to change his face.**

**Awww. Always the protective big brother.**

_Morgan is just that kind of guy. That's why all the ladies love him._

**Hahahahaha. Thanks kid.**

**Rossi is asleep!**

Reid and Morgan turned and saw Rossi asleep in his chair. Strauss was about to walk by him so Morgan kicked Rossi under the table. Rossi jerked awake andstarted to fake type just as Strauss pass him. He casted a gratefull glance towards Morgan, who nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Thank you for the great reviews! I try to make the charecters more fun and less serious than on the show. Sorry for the late update. Things are going crazy at school and I'm pretty sure that the teachers are trying to pile up homework so that (even though we are only fourteen) we have no time to make trouble. My small little country school has pretty nasty teachers. I'll try to update as much as I can.**

* * *

Morgan had just finished putting the kitchen door in, at one of his new propurties he bought, when his phone went off. He saw it was a text from Reid.

_My girlfriend is forcing me to watch and ice show. _

**You've got a girlfriend? Good for you!**

_Yeah. I don't get the point of these things._

**Ice shows or girlfriends? ;)**

_Both._

**Lol. Is she into you?**

_Idk._

**Try to kiss her and if she kisses you back with passion, then she is totaly into you.**

_Okay. I'll try it._

**K.**

Morgan put the phone back into his pocket and went out to his truck to grab some more tools to put the new cobards in he walked back into thehouse he had another text.

_She slapped me and walked away._

**Ouch. Sorry kid.**

_I'm done with relationships for a while. _

**I am suprised that we have time for realationships with our crazy hours.**

_When was the last time you've had a real girlfriend?_

**Years ago. What are you doing now?**

_I'm walking, on my way to my car. What about you?_

**Working on the kitchen in a new propurty. **

_Cool. _

**Let me guess, you are going to go home and watch S_tar Wars_? :)**

_Nope. Star Trek. :)_

**I hope that your cheek doesn't bruise or Hotch is going to have a cow tomorrow.**

_Ug. You're right. And I think it's going to bruise._

**Try to put something over it. **

_Like makeup?_

**Hahaha. Yeah.**

_I think I will just stick to iceing it._

**Your call man. **

_Hey Morgan?_

**Yeah?**

_Do you think we should forgive Hotch?_

**Not until he apoligizes.**

_Ha! Hotch? Apoligizing? Yeah right!_

**Exactly. **

_Smart._

**Thank you. :)**

* * *

The next day Reid walked to his desk with his head down and his hair falling into his face.

Emily knew that something was off so she grabbed Reid and spun him around. She pushed the hair away and saw the bruise on his cheek. "What happened?"

Reid told her and Emily said softly, "You had better not let Hotch see it."

"He had better not let Hotch see what?" Hotch asked, walking past them and heading to his office.

"Nothing," they said at the same time.

Hotch narrowed his eyebrows as Emily walked back down to her desk and Reid huddled over some papers, making sure his hair covered the bruise. Hotch laid a hand on Reid's shoulder. Then he placed a hand under Reid's chin and made Reid look up at him. Hotch saw the bruise and instantly felt a pang of anger and guilt. "Reid," he whispered. "I am sorry that you felt that you couldn't tell me." Hotch turned to Emily and Morgan before he continuied. "I want you all to know that you can tell me anything. I want you all to feel comfertable around me. I am sorry that feel that you have to hide stuff from me."

Everyone's jaws dropped in astonishment. They were all stunned into silence. Morgan set his jaw and stood up straight. He gave a stiff nod to Hotch, which Hotch returned before walking to his office.

Morgan, Reid, and Emily all knew that things were back to normal again and they couldn't be happier.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Thank you for the great reviews! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own "Criminal Minds"**

* * *

Morgan groaned when his phone went off. He saw it was just a text from Reid.

_Get your lazy ass out of bed!_

**Kid, It's three in the morning!**

_Are you drunk?_

**What? No. Why?**

_Because its ten right now._

Morgan rubbed his eyes and looked at his alarm clock again. this time he noticed how the time blinked, meaning that there was a power outage three hours ago. He checked the time on his phone and saw it was 10:12am. There was also a bunch of missed calls from Hotch and the team. "Shit!"

**The power went out this morning so my alarm didn't go off.**

_Hotch was freaking out, but I knew that you must have still been in bed. _

**Tell him I will be there in about fifteen minutes.**

_Okay. Glad to here that you are still alive. :)_

Morgan chuckled and threw the phone on his bed before heading towards the shower.

* * *

His phone was ringing when he left the bathroom. He ran over and saw it was a call from Hotch. "Morgan," he said, answering the phone.

"Morgan! Are you okay? why haven't you been answering your phone?!"

Morgan had to pull the phone away from his ear because of the yelling at the other end, before responding. "Hotch I'm fine."

"Why weren't you answering your phone?"

"I was in the shower."

He heard Hotch sigh on the other end of the phone.

"Well just come in as soon as possible."

"Okay Hotch."

Morgan hung up and texted Reid.

**Damn. You weren't kidding. Hotch was just screaming my ear off. **

_Yeah. We heard it all the way from the kitchenette._

**Is it just me or is Hotch getting way over protective of us?**

_Idk._

**Ask Emily.**

_She said she noticed it too. _

**That is kinda weird. **

_Yeah. Why don't I notice stuff like that?_

**Because you don't profile everyone you meet, which is a good thing.**

_I guess._

**You profile the people who need to be profiled. **

_Good point. _

Morgan slipped a shirt on as his phone went off again.

_Morgan! Emily keeps teasing me! _

**Need your big brother to protect you?**

_Yes please. When will you be here? _

**Soon kid. I'll text Prentiss and tell her to leave you alone. **

_Thank you Morgan. _

Morgan texted Emily.

**Em, are you picking on our baby brother? **

**What a tattle tail! But have you noticed that we have been using these family scenarios more and more often? **

**Yeah, because they are fun and kind of realistic.**

**And I think they are becoming more and more realistic because of the way Hotch has been acting. **

**Yeah. I have been thinking the same thing. I dare you to call Hotch "Dad" so we can see his response. **

**No!**

**I'll give you $40. **

**Fine. I'll do it when you get here.**

* * *

When Morgan walked to his desk, he gave a knowing glance to Emily.

"Prentiss," Hotch said, stopping by her desk on the way to his office. "I need that file back that i gave you yesterday."

Morgan mouthed to Emily, 'Do it now! It's time!'

She shot him a look that clearly said 'I'm not an idiot Derek!' She grabbed the file from a drawer in her desk and handed it to Hotch. "Here Dad...Er, Hotch." Her face turned bright red and she looked into his eyes for a second before glancing down at the floor. She sat in her chair, and Hotch gave her quick nod before continuing back to his office.

"Did you see that?!" Emily hissed.

Morgan nodded, open-mouthed. "There was a flicker in his eyes. He covered it up so fast that I couldn't read what it was, but it was definitely there."

Emily nodded.

They both had a good idea of what emotion flickered in Hotch's eyes.

* * *

Morgan had fallen asleep at his desk. He was in the middle of a nightmare when a hand shook him awake. His eyes snapped open and he saw Hotch standing over him.

"You okay?" Hotch asked, concern filling his voice.

Morgan ran his hands over his face. "Bad dream."

"You wanna talk about it?" Hotch whispered.

Morgan shook his head no, rubbing his eyes.

"You know that you can come to me about anything, right?"

Morgan nodded, and stood. "I had better get going."

"Remember to set your alarm." Hotch joked.

Morgan laughed. "Good tip. Good night Hotch."

"Night Morgan." Hotch said, slapping Morgan on the back.

Morgan left the building with a wide smile on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors note: Thanks for the great reviews!**

* * *

Morgan sat with Emily at the bar. "Cheers!" They cried, hitting their shots together before drinking them. The bartender came over and asked them for their keys, saying that they had too much to drink. They huffed but passed over their car keys. Emily almost fell out off the stool she was sitting on but Morgan caught her and they busted out laughing. Then Morgan got a text from Reid.

_Dude. Hotch wants you guys back so you can do some paperwork._

**I dnt think we will b able to mak it back.**

_What? Why?_

Reid showed Hotch the text and Hotch snatched his phone away and began typing.

_Morgan, it's Hotch. Why wont you be able to come in?_

**Th dud tok my kys.**

Hotch stared at the text, trying to puzzle it out. He guessed it was supposed to say, 'The dude took my keys.' He started to get concerned

_Who took your keys Derek?_

**_Brtendr._**

_The bartender?_

**Ya Hoth.**

_Hand you phone to the bartender._

**Hello?**

_Are you the bartender?_

**Yes sir.**

_How wasted is he?_

**He and the girl with him are so drunk that I was forced to take their keys.**

_Is the girl's name Emily?_

**Yes sir.**

_Tell them I am going to come and pick them up. What bar is it?_

**Cody's Bar and Grill at the corner of Ryan Drive and 2nd Street. **

_Okay. Thank you._

**No problem sir.**

* * *

Hotch entered the bar and saw Morgan and Emily at the bar. "Morgan! Prentiss!" he called.

They turned and saw Hotch walking towards them. "Hey Hotch!" Morgan slurred. "Whadda doin' here?"

"I am here to take you home." Hotch told him. Hotch saw that Morgan was A lot more drunk than Emily.

"Wah?" Morgan complained. "Just one more drink!"

"No Derek." Hotch said, helping him up. "You have had enough. Now come on. I'm taking you home."

Morgan huffed but allowed Hotch to help him to Hotch's car. Then Hotch helped Emily, after thanking the bartender for taking their keys.

* * *

Morgan woke up with a pounding head ache and his alarm clock wasn't helping. He groaned and threw his alarm clock across the room. He grabbed his phone and texted Emily.

**I feel like complete shit right now. **

**Join the club. **

**I don't even remember how I got home last night. **

**Same here. I seriously hope we didn't drive home. **

**I don't think so... I am so confused right now.**

**Lets just go to work and hope that nobody notices.**

**Good idea.**

* * *

Morgan walked into the bullpen with sunglasses on and his head down. Emily did the same.

Reid bolted out of his chair when he saw them. "What are you guys doing here?! Hotch told you not to come in to work today!" He saw the looks on there faces and asked. "You guys don't remember?"

They shook their heads.

"Hotch picked you guys up from the bar last night because you were too drunk to drive." Reid told them. "When he dropped you guys off at your houses, he told you not to come into work today."

Morgan and Emily shared a look.

"What are you two doing here?" Hotch called, walking towards them. "I thought I told you not to come in today."

"Are you mad about last night?" Emily whispered.

Hotch gave them half a smile. "No. Everyone has those nights. Now go home and rest up. I don't want to see you two until tomorrow."

"Thanks Hotch." Morgan said, gratefully, and followed Emily out the front doors of the building.

* * *

Morgan texted Reid on his way home.

**If Hotch yells at you a lot, tell me and I'll handle it. **

_I don't want you to get into a really bad fist fight with him._

**What makes you think that I would start a fight with him?**

_Because thats how you "handle" things. _

**If it did come to fists, it would be a really close fight. **

_Yeah. I think Hotch is the only person that it would be a close fight. _

**You're probably right.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: **

* * *

Morgan walked in into the bullpen and saw Emily teasing Reid. He rushed up behind her and wrapped his arms around her before lifting her off the ground. "You picking on my baby brother?!" He asked.

"Derek!" Emily cried, laughing. "Put me down!"

"Oh, I don't know. I just love you _sooooooooo_ much!" He teased, giving her a big squeeze.

Emily laughed and struggled to get free from Morgan's monstrous arms.

"Morgan," Hotch called from the doorway of his office. "Put Prentiss down. Prentiss, stop picking on Reid."

"Sorry Hotch," Morgan and Emily said in sync, Morgan releasing Emily from his firm grasp.

* * *

Later that day there was a meeting. Hotch and his team took the tables in the very back of the room. Hotch and Rossi at the table to the left, Morgan and Reid at the table in the middle, and JJ and Emily at the table to the right. Morgan and Reid instantly started passing notes as soon as the meeting began.

_So. Anything new happening in the exciting life of Derek Morgan? _

**Lol. Just trying to finish the shit load of paperwork on my desk.**

_I was right. Sounds like a lot of fun!_

**Yeah. Almost as fun as a stake out. -_- **

_Lol. But what is your idea of fun?_

**Hanging out with you and goofing off at work.**

_Mine is finding the scientific errors in movies. _

**Why does that not surprise me? **

_Because you're my best friend and we know almost everything about each other?_

**Good point. **

A piece of paper hit Reid in the head. Both Reid and Morgan turned and saw Hotch glaring at them. Hotch mouthed 'Pay attention!' Morgan and Reid slouched in their chairs and crossed their arms.

"At least I only got yelled at once today, unlike you. You are always getting yelled at nowadays," Reid mocked. Morgan kicked him under the table and instantly regretted it when he saw the tears form in Reid's eyes. He didn't mean to kick the kid that hard. He heard a chair scrap against the floor to his left and saw Hotch stand up with rage burning in his eyes. Morgan had never seen him so mad before . Hotch pointed to the hallway and Morgan hesitated before following Hotch out of the room.

When Morgan came back into the room, still shaken up over the screaming he got for making Reid cry, he saw Reid pull up the leg of his pants and revealed a large bruise . Morgan instantly felt a pang of guilt and just slumped down in his seat. Not even bothering to pay attention or pass notes. He just kept his head down and ignored everyone.

* * *

When the meeting was over Morgan went straight to his desk and started doing paperwork.

Emily was teasing Reid and said, "Your idea of fun is organizing periodic table alphabetically. Right Morgan?"

Morgan ignored her and continued writing. Emily walked over to him and teased, "Are you still upset because Daddy yelled at you?"

Morgan slammed his pen down and yelled, "Can't a man do his paperwork in peace?!" He stood up, grabbed some of the paperwork and stormed out of the bullpen. Emily, JJ and Reid stared after him, jaws dropped.

"Where is Morgan?" Hotch called, walking into the bullpen and stopping at Morgan's empty desk.

Morgan walked back in and grabbed him phone off his desk.

"Where is your report?" Hotch asked him.

"I'm working on it!" Morgan snapped before walking away again.

"What did you say to him?" Emily whispered.

Hotch just continued to stare after Morgan before turning and walking into his office.

* * *

The next day Morgan ignored everyone and only spoke when he was forced to. The guilt, anger, and frustration that he was feeling made it difficult to concentrate. He was sitting in an empty interrogation room filling out the paperwork when the door opened and Hotch stepped in. "I'm kind of busy here." He said.

"Morgan-," Hotch started.

Morgan cut him off. "I'm not finished with the report yet. I would have been if people would stop interrupting me." _And if I could focus,_ he added mentally.

"Morgan," Hotch tried again. "I'm not here about your report." Morgan looked up at him curiously. "I am here to talk to you about what happened yesterday."

"There is nothing to talk about." Morgan said, standing up. "You hate me. Reid hates me. Emily and JJ are pissed at me. Even Garcia wont talk to me anymore. I really can't take you yelling at me right now Hotch."

"You honestly think that I hate you?" Hotch asked, astounded.

Morgan nodded and looked away. Hotch walked over to him.

"I didn't come here to yell at you." Hotch told him. "I came here to apologize. I over reacted yesterday and I just wanted to say that I am sorry. I don't hate you Derek. And you know that Reid and Garcia could never hate you. Prentiss and JJ... Well that's a different story."

Morgan gave a slight chuckle at that last part. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, something Hotch picked up on immediately.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" he asked. Morgan shook his head. "Go and lay down on my couch. I don't want you falling asleep at your desk."

After some complaining on the way to Hotch's office, Morgan finally gave in. "Fine, but tell the team in sorry. Especially Reid." He told Hotch as he layed down on the couch. Hotch went and sat at his desk. Soon he could hear Morgan's breathing slow as he slipped into sleep. Hotch smiled and gazed fondly at his sleeping agent.


	8. Chapter 8

Morgan was in an SUV with Hotch, heading to go talk to one of the friends of a victim on a case. Morgan pulled out his phone and texted Emily.

**Is little Spencer behaving himself while Daddy and Derek are gone?**

**No. He is being a little snot!**

**How so?**

**He keeps bugging me and wont let me do my work! Tell him to leave me alone. He'll listen to you.**

**Haha. K.**

Morgan texted Reid.

**Kid, leave Emily alone so she can do her work.**

_But I don't have anyone to talk to._

**Do your paperwork.**

_It's all done. _

**Talk to JJ.**

_She is in a meeting._

**Talk to Rossi.**

_In the meeting with JJ._

**What about Garcia?**

_Out on her lunch break. _

**Read a book.**

_Yeah. That will entertain me for ten minutes, then it will be finished and I'm back to square one._

**Help Emily with her paperwork. That way she will get done faster and then can talk to you sooner.**

_Good idea! Thanks Morgan!_

**No problem kid.**

Morgan slid his phone back into his pocket and leaned back in the seat. They were passing through an intersection and Morgan look out his window just in time to see a truck speeding towards them. "DAD!" Morgan screamed to Hotch, a split second before the truck hit. The SUV rolled before landing right side up again. Glass was everywhere and there was a searing pain in Morgan's lower leg. He felt something warm running down the right side of his head. When he tried to move his leg the pain was so bad that he passed out.

* * *

"Morgan," Hotch called. His voice sounded faint and distant.

"Dad?" Morgan called back, his head swimming.

"Come on Derek," Hotch urged. "Open your eyes."

Morgan struggled but soon was able to open his eyes a crack. He rolled his head to the left so he could see Hotch. He saw that Hotch had small cuts all over his body from the glass and a deep cut on his right bicep. "Hotch. Your arm."

"I'm fine Morgan." Hotch told him.

"Okay sir." Morgan mumbled, his eyes starting to close again.

Hotch was scared. This was not the Derek Morgan he knew. That head would must be pretty deep. "Derek. Derek, keep your eyes open. You got to keep them open!"

Morgan sighed and opened his eyes again. Faintly, they could hear sirens. Hotch looked around for the ambulance. When he glanced back at Morgan he saw Morgan's eyes closed and his head limp against the seat. "Morgan!" Hotch called. "Morgan, wake up! Come on Derek!" He leaned over and felt for a pulse. He could feel it faintly against his fingers.

The ambulance arrived and the car was swarmed with medics and firefighters. "Help him first!" Hotch cried, pointing to Morgan.

"It's alright, Agent Hotchner. Everything will be okay. We are going to get you out of here." The medic nearest to Hotch reassured him.

"You are going to get _him_ out first." Hotch ordered.

They cut away Morgan's door and cut off his seatbelt. Morgan woke up just as they were strapping him onto a stretcher. "Hotch," he called.

No one was by Hotch's door so he climbed out the driver's side window before anyone could stop him, ignoring the hot flash of pain it caused. People tried to restrain him, but Hotch _had _to make sure his agent was okay. He followed as they loaded Morgan into an ambulance. There was no way that he was going to leave Morgan and he made sure that the medics knew that.

* * *

Morgan slowly opened his eyes and saw he was in a hospital room. To his right he saw Reid sitting in a chair next to his bed. "Hey Pretty Boy."

"Morgan, I'm so sorry." Reid apologized.

Morgan was confused. "For what?"

"For texting you and causing the crash." Reid whispered.

Morgan groaned as he sat up. "Reid, Hotch was driving. It wouldn't have mattered if you texted me or not. It was not your fault."

Reid smiled a little. "I guess."

Morgan saw Emily standing outside his room. "Hey Princess! Are you going to stand guard outside my door all day or come in and say hello?!"

Emily turned and smiled at him through the window before walking into the room. "Well someone has to make sure you don't sneak off to got flirt with cute nurses."

"Well that's the only fun part about being in a hospital." He replied with a wink.

Reid laughed.

"Where is Hotch?" Morgan asked.

"JJ and Rossi are all but tying him to his bed so he doesn't leave his room to come and check on you." Emily replied. "He wont be able to leave the hospital until tomorrow. You will have to stay here for a week. Hotch had to have twelve stitches on the cut on his arm and three on one to his head. You had eight stitches to your head wound, and you have a broken leg."

"Great," Morgan whined. "Now I will have to be on crutches like Reid was!"

Reid started laughing. "Have fun! Those things are a blast! You wont be able to do field work or even leave the building."

"I am at least cleared to fly, right?" Morgan said, hopefully.

Reid shook his head no and Morgan flopped back against the bed, groaning. _This is going to be a_ fun_ couple of months, _Morgan thought sarcasticly.


	9. Chapter 9

The team was over at Hotch's house one weekend for dinner. Reid had yet to show up.

"Hey Em!" Morgan called to Emily. "Where's the kid?"

Emily shrugged and pulled out her phone and tested Reid.

**Where are you? **

_On my way._

**Morgan is throwing a hissy fit because he doesn't have anyone to play with.**

_Poor Derek. Tell him to hold back his tears because I'm almost there._

**Lol. K.**

* * *

Reid showed up three minutes later.

"There he is!" Morgan cried, watching Reid pull into Hotch's drive way. He ran over to Reid, throwing his arm around his shoulders and messing up his hair. "Hey Pretty Boy! Glad you finally made it!"

Morgan pulled Reid into the backyard. There Hotch was grilling, Rossi talking to Hotch, Emily sitting in a lawn chair soaking up the sun, JJ sitting next to Will on the porch swing with her head on his shoulder as they rocked back and forth, and Jack and Henry playing with bubbles.

Morgan dragged Reid over to the large open area at the back of the backyard, handing him a baseball glove. Morgan walked a couple of yards away and put his own glove on.

"Ready Pretty Boy?" He called to Reid. Reid nodded and Morgan gentally tossed the ball to him underhanded.

After several failed attempts, Hotch called , "Try to line up your glove with the ball before the ball reaches you!" Reid nodded and Morgan threw the ball again. This time Reid caught it. He cheered and Hotch casted him a smile and a thumbs up.

Morgan's cell phone started to ring and he handed the ball to Emily so she could throw the ball to Reid while he answered his phone.

After a minute or two Morgan hung up the phone and started walking back towards Reid and Emily. Reid got distracted by Hotch yelling that the food was done and didn't see Emily throw the ball again. Morgan's arm shot up and caught the ball before it could hit Reid. Reid thanked him as they all jogged to the large picnic table on Hotch's back porch.

Morgan, Reid, JJ, Will, and Henry sat on one side of the picnic table and Emily, Rossi, Hotch, and Jack sat on the other. Everyone dug into the food.

Hotch smiled as he looked around and studied the people around him. His smile grew as he watched Morgan steal some food off of Reid's plate.

"Hey!" Reid cried.

"Oh sorry." Morgan apologized, then reached over and stole Reid's whole plate and started shoving the food into his mouth.

"Hey!" Reid cried again, laughing. He struggled to reach over Morgan to grab his plate back. "Come on man!"

"Derek," Hotch said in a light tone. "Give him back his plate. But first, Reid ask for it instead of just trying to grab it."

"Derek can I please have my plate back?" Reid asked.

"You _can_..." Morgan teased.

_Derek..._" Hotch said warningly, giving him a look.

Derek smiled and passed Reid his plate. Reid started piling the food back on it again.

Everyone started drinking except for the kids. Morgan, Reid, and Emily were drinking the most.

* * *

Hotch finished cleaning up and glanced at the clock. It was a little after midnight. JJ and Will had already left to go put Henry to bed and Rossi left because he had church tomorrow. He had last seen the rest of his team still drinking in his living room.

When Hotch entered the living room, he saw a sight that made him stop and smile fondly. There Morgan sat on his couch with Reid sitting next to him and Reid's head leaning against his shoulder. Emily was sprawled across the couch with her head in Morgan's lap. They had passed out. Hotch got a blanket and drapped it over his sleeping agents. Hotch couldn't help but rub his hands back and forth on Emily's back and Reid's shoulder. Both agents subconsciously leaned into the touch with slight smiles on their faces.

Hotch left to go check on Jack and when he came back Reid was stirring with an anguished expression on his face. Hotch instantly rushed over and squatted in front of Reid, rubbing soothing circles on his shoulder.

Reid opened his eyes slightly. "Hotch?"

"Yeah Reid. It's me." Hotch told him. "You're okay now. You're safe."

Reid relaxed.

"Go back to sleep Spencer." Hotch whispered.

Reid nodded and snuggled closer to Morgan. "Night Dad."

Hotch didn't know how to react so he just stayed silent. Mixed emotions were hitting him and he had no idea what to do. Hotch just buried the feelings and went to bed with one more lingering look at his sleeping agents.

* * *

**Author's note: If there were some random words in there, sorry. I typed this chapter on my kindle at a hotel and the auto correct screws up the story. Again, sorry for any random words in there. **


	10. Chapter 10

Reid watched Morgan as he did his paperwork. He pulled out his phone and texted Emily.

_Should I scare the crap out of Morgan?_

**No! Not unless you want to be killed!**

_He won't kill me. _

**Do you want to chance that? **

Reid ignored her and snuck over to Morgan's desk. From his crouched position he didn't see Hotch approaching. Reid popped up next to Morgan. Morgan spun around and punched Reid by reflex.

Before he could react he felt a fist plowing into his cheek, harder than any unsub had had done. Two more followed the first before he could see who was hitting him. He was about to hit the person back when he turned and saw it was Hotch.

Hotch punched him again and Morgan fell to the floor. He curled his body into a ball and put his arms over his head to protect himself from Hotch's blows. There was no way that he could bring himself to hit Hotch back. Hotch got dragged away and Morgan layed there gasping for air.

"I'm so sorry Reid," Morgan wheezed. "I didn't know it was you. I am so sorry for hitting you Reid." He tried to sit up but the pain in his ribs were too much to bear, and he passed out.

* * *

Hotch was walking by the bullpen when he turned and saw Morgan punch Reid. Hotch snapped. He completely and utterly snapped. He didn't see Morgan as himself. He saw Morgan as an unsub who was trying to harm his team. Hotch started beating the living shit out of him, before being dragged away by Rossi, Emily, and JJ while Reid stayed behind with Morgan.

"Aaron!" Rossi yelled as he pulled Hotch towards his office. "Aaron, do you realize what you just did!"

Hotch nodded. "I saved Reid from the unsub." They entered Hotch's office.

"No," Rossi shook his head. "What you did was beat Morgan half to death!"

Hotch glared at his friend. "That's not funny."

"Do I look like I'm laughing?" Rossi snarled.

Hotch looked into his friend's eyes, then out his window. Magically the unsub on the ground turned into Morgan.

"Derek!" Hotch screamed. "Derek!" He tried to run to his agent but Rossi held him back. Some agents carried Morgan away, and Hotch turned and punched a hole into his wall. Then did it again.

"Aaron stop!" Rossi ordered.

Hotch slid down his wall until he was sitting on the ground, and buried his head in his bloody hands. Then Hotch came to a decision.

He stood up and took off his gun and badge. Handing them to Rossi he said, "I don't deserve these." Then Hotch turned and walked out of the building before anyone could stop him.

* * *

Morgan came into work the next day looking like shit but he didn't care. He walked straight to Hotch's office to apologize to him but he wasn't there. He went and knocked on Rossi's door.

"Where's Hotch?" He asked, poking his head into the office.

"He quit last night," Rossi replied quietly.

Morgan turned and walked back to his desk in shock. _This is all my fault,_ he thought._ Hotch is so mad that I hit Reid that he quit! All my fault. All my fault. All my fault. _Morgan layer his gun and badge on his desk and left, soaking in guilt.

* * *

Hotch looked at his phone to see who was calling him. It was Rossi.

"Hotchner." Hotch answered.

"Aaron you had better fix this mess!" Rossi screamed into the phone.

"What-?" Hotch started but was cut off.

"Morgan quit this morning after hearing that you did the same thing last night!" Rossi told him.

"_WHAT?!"_ Hotch screamed into the phone.

"He probably thinks this is all hos fault after you freaked out on him last night then resigned right after. You go over to that boy's house and talk some sense into that thick skull of his!" Rossi ordered. Hotch nodded and hung up.

* * *

Hotch burst through Morgan's front door. He looked around and saw Morgan sitting on his couch. He spun around at the sudden noise, reflexively grabbing his gun.

"Hotch," he breathed. "Hotch I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry for punching for punching Reid! Please don't quit because of me! It's not your fault! It's mine! It's all my fault! Please don't quit!"

_Damn, _Hotch thought. _Dave was right, as always. _"Do you really think I was so mad at you for hitting Reid that I quit? Derek, I quit because I wouldn't be able to see you every day, knowing what I did to you. Me quitting is not your fault."

"If I didn't punch Reid-!" Morgan started.

Hotch cut him off. "Reid told me what happened. It was a reflex. And it's good to have it when you're a cop. Helps you when dealing with unsubs or for a sneak attack."

Morgan just shrugged. Hotch sighed and sat down next to him.

"Morgan," Hotch whispered. "I am not mad at you."

"You should be though," Morgan growled. "I deserve it."

Hotch shook his head. "No. You don't. What will it take for me to prove that I am not mad at you?"

"Not quit." Morgan said, his brown eyes boring into Hotch's.

Hotch sighed. "I can't, Derek. I can't risk hurting you again."

"If you won't come back, I won't either." Morgan said stubbornly.

"Derek-," Hotch started.

"I'm serious Hotch." Morgan interrupted.

Hotch looked into Morgan's eyes and saw them pleading with Hotch to say he will come back to work. The look broke Hotch's heart. Finally he nodded. "Alright Derek. I'll come back."

Morgan burst into a huge grin and suddenly hugged Hotch, burying his face in his chest.

In that moment, Hotch realised that he could never leave his team. His heart broke again as he wondered how the rest of the team was handling him being gone. Reid must be flipping out. First his dad leaves him, then Gideon, and now Hotch. Hotch was going to make sure that Reid, Morgan, and the rest of the team knew that he was never going to abandon them again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: Thanks to EmmaLaurila and TheMysteriousGeek2345 for the awesome reviews! I'm gld you like the story so far. This chapter is when Emily comes back after they think she is dead. Enjoy, and Please review!**

* * *

"Come on Pretty Boy!" Morgan said. He had Reid in a head lock and was driving his knuckles into the top of Reid's head, messing up the young man's hair.

"Morgan!" Reid laughed, squirming to get away from Morgan's strong grasp.

"Awww. Am I messing up Pretty Boy's hair?" Morgan teased, digging his knuckles in even harder. Reid busted out in another fit of laughs.

"Rossi!" Reid squealed, as Rossi walked by. Rossi smiled and walked over.

He was about to say something when Hotch's voice rang across the bullpen. "Reid! Morgan! Rossi! Go to the briefing room!" There was something odd in his voice that the three profilers couldn't read. Morgan released Reid and they all shared a look before walking to the briefing room

* * *

"Garcia, do we have a case?" Morgan asked as the sat next to Reid at the round table.

"Not that I know about," she told him. Rossi sat next to her on the opposite side of the table.

"No offence but why would they invite you here then?" Reid asked, confused. Garcia shrugged.

"What is going on?" Morgan mumbled, half to himself.

Hotch walked in.

"Hotch, wh-?" Morgan started but stopped as Hotch flashed him a look that told him to shut up and wait for him to start talking.

"As you all know Emily lost a lot of blood," Hotch started. He and JJ went on explaining their plan that they had to say that she died but that they secretly shipped her to Italy.

"She's alive." Rossi whispered. Hotch and JJ both nodded. They heard a voice and turned to see Emily walk in. She hugged everyone but hugged Morgan the longest. She told everyone how sorry she was. Everyone was in shock.

* * *

Later that night at Morgan's house, the shock went away and all he could feel was betrayal and anger._ How could Hotch and JJ do that to us?! _he thought. He grabbed his picture of Hotch, JJ, and him off of the coffee table and threw it at the wall. It broke. Then he went around the house grabbing every picture of the three of them and walked back down stairs. He chucked each photo at the same wall.

Reid called as Morgan threw the second picture.

"What Reid?" He asked, throwing another.

"Are you okay?" Reid asked.

Morgan chucked a picture with extra force. "No."

"What are you doing?" Reid asked, curios about the loud crashes he was hearing.

"Throwing JJ's and Hotch's pictures at the wall." Morgan told him.

"Sounds like fun. Can I join you?" Reid asked.

Morgan laughed bitterly. "Sure thing kid. I'll wait for you."

Morgan set down the remaining photos and walked over to the pile of broken glass, pictures, and broken picture frames.

He glanced down and saw a picture of him and JJ. He had his arms wrapped around JJ and his cheek on the top of her head. They were both laughing, JJ leaning into his chest. Morgan punched the picture. then once he started he couldn't stop. He punched it over and over again, driving pieces of the shattered glass into his hand.

When he finally stopped, his hand was bleeding pretty badly. He stood up and wrapped his hand. When he came back Reid was relaxing on his couch. "Hey Kid. I see you brought your own pictures."

Reid smiled and stood. "Yeah. Ya ready?"

Morgan picked up his pictures and nodded. They began chucking picture after picture at the wall. Suddenly Morgan stopped.

"This is JJ's fault!" He screamed. "JJ she was the one who came up with the plan! Hotch just signed off on it! I know he wouldn't send Em away without being forced to. This is all JJ's fault!"

"I went to her house for TEN WEEKS crying over losing a friend and not once did she have the decency to tell me the truth! TEN WEEKS!" Reid screamed, throwing a picture as hard as he could. It hit the wall so hard that it went through the dry wall. He looked at the wall, breathing heavily. "Sorry about the wall Morgan."

Morgan waved his hand dismissively. "No need to be sorry. I can fix it in a heart beat. JJ is the one who should be sorry. I know that she said it but I don't believe her. I forgive Hotch, I just can't forgive her."

"Morgan, your hand." Reid whispered.

Morgan glanced down and saw the wrap around his hand was soaked in blood. "I had better go to the hospital."

* * *

On the way there Morgan lost alot of blood and passes out.

When he came to, it was morning. He saw Reid sitting in a chair next to his hospital bed, putting his phone back into his pocket as the doctor walked in.

"Hello agent Morgan. I am Dr. Rick." The doctor said, Morgan shaking the man's hand. "You had eight stitches to the cuts on your hand. You should come back in a week so I can take them out. Any questions?"

"When can I leave?" Morgan asked. Reid chuckled, knowing how much Morgan hates hospitals. Morgan only went when it was for something serious.

"I can go get you the discharge papers if you would like." Dr. Rick suggested. Morgan nodded and he left the room.

"I called Hotch." Reid said after the doctor left.

"What sis you say?" Morgan asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"He called and asked where we were. I only had enough time to tell him that you were in the hospital before the doctor came in." Reid told him.

Morgan's head rolled back into the pillow and he closed his eyes, groaning. "Hotch is going to flip tits. He is going to rush over here like I'm dying. I pray to God he won't bring JJ. That is the last thing I need right now."

"What happened to your hand anyways?" Reid asked.

Morgan rolled his head towards Reid. "I saw that picture of me and JJ that Hotch took while we were at his house. I snapped and started punching the picture repeatedly and the glass cut me." Reid nodded, remembering the picture.

The both did not see Hotch standing in the doorway, listening. His heart broke as he heard this. Then he walked in and pretended he hadn't heard a thing. "Morgan, are you okay?"

Morgan nodded.

"What happened?" Hotch asked.

Morgan glanced at Reid before lying. "I dropped a beer bottle and cut my hand trying to clean up the glass."

"Damn." Hotch muttered.

"Yeah, what a waste of beer!" Morgan joked.

Hotch gave a small smile. Emily and Garcia rushed into the room hugging Morgan and talking all at once.

"Guys!" Morgan finally snapped. "I cut my knuckles. Not my throat. I'm not dying."

All profilers saw Morgan's eyes turn from happy and carefree to ice as JJ walked into the room. He quickly covered it but they all saw, including JJ.

"Wow Hotch. You brought the whole team with you." Morgan said lightly. "Wait. Where's Rossi?"

"He thought the room would be too crowded." JJ told him. "How are you?"

"Fine." Morgan said. Everyone heard the hit of coldness that he tried, and failed, to keep out of his voice. JJ winced. Garcia was clueless to all of this.

* * *

Morgan was discharged and got the okay to go back to work. When he got there he walked into Rossi's office. "Rossi? Can I ask you something?"

"Let me guess. You want to ask me if I think that you should be mad at JJ." Rossi profiled. Morgan nodded. "Morgan, your anger is understandable."

"Okay, but is it bad that I am not mad at Hotch?" Morgan asked, quietly.

Rossi sighed. "No Derek. It's easier to stay mad at a sibling and harder to stay mad at a parent. That's just the way we are."

Morgan nodded again and caught the hidden meaning under his words. Rossi knows about how Morgan sees the team and used that to help Morgan understand what he ment. Morgan was about to say something when they heard a knock.

"Come in." Rossi called.

Hotch entered the room asking, "I am not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No Aaron. Not at all." Rossi answered. Morgan tensed and shot him a look that was clearly begging him not to tell Hotch about his reason for coming in here. "Morgan and I were just talking about the next budget meeting." Morgan looked relieved.

Hotch nodded, clearly not believing him. Morgan nodded to the two older agents and left Rossi's office.

"What we're you two really talking about?" Hotch demanded as soon as Morgan was gone.

"Aaron. The boy came to me in confidence. You seen him silently begging me not to tell you. I am not going to betray his trust." Rossi told him.

"I'll tell you what really happened to his hand if you tell me what you guys were talking about." Hotch bargained.

Rossi laughed. "I don't want to know. There is a reason he didn't tell me. I respect that and if he wants to tell me, he knows where to find me."

"Why did he come to you?! Why can't he trust me?!" Hotch growled, frustrated.

Rossi sighed. "The reason he didn't come to you because it was about you." He seen the look on Hotch's face and continued. "It was nothing bad. You just have to trust that if he has a problem that isn't about you, he will come to you about it."

"I want him to be able to come to me about anything, especially if it's about me. If he has a problem with me, he should talk to me about it and we could try to work it out." Hotch replied.

Rossi sighed again. "Just don't push him Aaron. Let him come to you on his own. The more you push, the farther away from you he will go. Give him time."

Hotch collapsed in a chair, rubbing his temples. "This is just so frustrating Dave."

Rossi thought for a moment about what to say next. When he looked up, Hotch was asleep in the chair. The events from recently catching up to him.

"Give him time Aaron." Rossi whispered to his sleeping friend.


	12. Chapter 12

Morgan ant the team sat at their regular spots in the very back of the room at a budget meeting. JJ fell asleep like usual, and Morgan glared at her sleeping form. If he fell asleep, he would get bitched at by Hotch. Reid took that moment to start passing notes.

_Hi Emily!_

**Lol. Hi Reid.**

_Hi Morgan!_

**Hello Pretty Boy.**

_Em, what are you going to do this weekend? _

**Probably hang out with Max.**

**Who the fuck is Max?!**

_Morgan is jealous! _

**I am not! **

**He is my cat Morgan.**

**Oh. Ok.**

_What about you Morgan?_

**Work on my newest property.**

_I am going to go to a nightclub and try to pick up some girls._

**Oh yeah! That's my man! **

**Oh no. Reid is turning into Morgan. **

**Way to go Reid!**

**This is so scary. The last thing this planet needs is another Derek Morgan running around.**

**Don't listen to her Reid! Good job for getting out of the library!**

_I was just kidding. I just wanted to see what people would say._

**Thank God!**

**-_- Way to crush my dreams kid.**

**Should I wake up JJ and ask her what she would think about you turning into Morgan?**

_No! _

**No!**

**Hu? Why not?**

Morgan and Reid looked at each other before both of them pushed the note away, refusing to answer that question. Emily was very confused.

Hotch watched all of this from his table. He saw Morgan and Reid both write something frantically on the note, Emily looked confused as she passed the note back. He saw Morgan and Reid push the note away at the same time, and caught their angry glances at sleeping JJ.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and Hotch looked up to see that JJ had fallen out of her chair again. As he rushed over he saw Morgan and Reid struggling not to laugh. He gave them each a good swat on the back of the head as he passed them. They instantly sobered up.

* * *

Later that day the team was on their way to raid an unsub's house. Morgan and Reid got there first but things go really ugly really fast.

Reid went through the front and Morgan headed towards the back. As soon as Reid opened the door, the unsub hit Reid over the head with a lamp, knocking him out. Then the unsub raced to the back and waited for Morgan.

As soon as Morgan turned the corner to the back yard, the unsub grabbed him by his bullet proof vest and threw him into the pool. When Morgan's head popped up, the unsub grabbed his head and shoved it back down bellow the surface of the water. Morgan struggled two get free of his grasp but failed. Soon Morgan stopped struggling and the unsub watched as his body started to sink to the bottom of the pool.

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry about the chapter being so short but a am mean and wanted to do a cliffhanger. ;) I promise to update in a day or so, that way people won't get too mad at me. **


	13. Chapter 13

When Hotch and Rossi got there they rushed inside. Rossi tripped over Reid's unconscious body and was worried about Reid but even more worried about why he couldn't hear Morgan. "Morgan?" He called.

He walked out into the back yard and saw something that made his heart stop. Morgan's body was just sinking to the bottom of the pool. It didn't register to him that that ment the unsub was just here a couple of seconds ago. All he could think about was his agent. "Morgan!"

Hotch sprinted over and dived into the pool. He swam to Morgan, grabbed the younger man's body, and hauled him to the surface. Rossi was there and helped Hotch drag Morgan's limp body out of the water. he already had Morgan's vest and shirt off before Hotch wall fully out of the pool.

Hotch instantly started giving him CPR. "Come on Morgan!" Hotch screamed, tears streaming down his face. It seemed like hours went by with no response from Morgan.

Finally Morgan turned his head and started to cough the water out of his lungs. "Morgan?" Hotch called.

Morgan gazed up at him, dazed. "Hotch?"

Hotch sighed with relief, then screamed, "Derek Morgan!" If you ever scare me like that again I will fire you then kick your ass so bad that you won't be able to sit down till Christmas!"

Morgan chuckled then took a closer look. "Hotch. You're soaking wet."

Hotch laughed. "In case you haven't noticed, so are you."

Morgan looked over Hotch's shoulder. "Hey Em. Whatcha cryin' about?"

Hotch was startled when he turned around and saw a wet faced Emily crouched behind him. He hadn't even realised she and JJ had even arrived.

"You scared the shit out of me Derek," Emily whispered.

Morgan laughed quietly. "You should be used to that by now."

She fave a watery chuckle before reaching down and pulling his wet body close to her. Morgan rubbed her back and assured her that he was fine.

Morgan suddenly remembered Reid. Reid would have been the one to save him if he had the chance, or would have at least been here with him right now. Morgan began to panick slightly. "Where's Reid?"

"The unsub knocked him out," Emily told him. "JJ is with him."

"Is he okay?" Morgan asked. "Is he awake?"

They heard a groan before Emily could answer him. They knew it was Reid.

"Reid!" Morgan screamed. "Reid!" Morgan tried to stand up but Hotch held him down. Reid stumbled out of the house and Morgan called his name again.

"Hu?" Reid mumbled. "Why are you wet?" Rossi filled Reid in on what happened. "Oh my God." Reid whispered.

Morgan waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine. We need to get you to the hospital."

"Morgan, I'm not going unless you go too." Reid said stubbornly.

"You are going there, even if I have to drag you there myself." Morgan replied, equally stubborn.

"And you are going, even if I have to shove you into an ambulance and strap you to a gurney." Hotch pipped up. "Morgan you need to get checked out at the hospital."

Morgan shook his head violently and scooted away a little bit.

Suddenly he was back into the pool. No one saw the unsub sprint out from the bushes. The froze as he tackled Morgan into the pool again.

"Hotch!" Morgan screamed as his head popped up above the surface. It was too deep for him to touch the bottom of the pool and the unsub took advantage of that, shoving Morgan's head back under.

Hotch dove into the water again with Rossi right behind him. Hotch grabbed the unsub and started wrestling with him. As soon as the unsub had loosened his grip enough, Rossi grabbed the unsub and Hotch grabbed Morgan.

"Hotch," Morgan wheezed when Hotch had a firm grip on him with his head above water. Morgan coughed all the water out of his lungs. Emily and JJ Morgan out of the water, then Hotch.

As soon as Morgan was out of the water, he took off towards the driveway and away from the pool. He fell a couple of times but was quickly on his feet again. Hotch and Emily chased after him while JJ helped Rossi with the unsub.

They found Morgan leaning against the car breathing heavily.

"Morgan?" Hotch called. Morgan nearly jumped out of his skin, his hand clutching the, now useless, gun at his waist. He relaxed as he saw it was just Hotch. Hotch got Morgan to calm down but when he looked into the younger man's eyes, he saw the pain he felt.. Hotch wrapped him in a tight hug before he even realised what he was doing. Morgan clung to him. Feeling Hotch's protective arms around him, Morgan had never felt safer than right here in Hotch's arms.


	14. Chapter 14

Morgan was at a night club one night when he saw something that made his jaw drop. He saw Emily about seven yards away, grinding up against some random guy. When she went to the bar and sat down at the stool to order a drink, Morgan walked up behind her and whispered in her ear, "Hey there pretty lady. Let me buy you a drink."

Emily turned around. "Hey Morgan! What are you doing here?!"

"I'm here with my book club." Morgan said in fake seriousness. "We are reading 'Eat, Pray, Love'."

Emily laughed and leaned against back against his chest as she waited for her drink.

Morgan glanced around the club and saw something that made him stop breathing for a second. "No fucking way."

Emily rolled her head so it was resting on his shoulder as she looked to see what he was looking at. When she seen in her jaw dropped to the floor. "Oh my God."

There, on the dance floor, was Hotch and Haley. Haley was rubbing her body up and down Hotch's, and Hotch looked like he was having the time of his life.

Morgan and Emily got an idea. They walked over and stools a few feet away from Hotch. "Come on babe," Emily yelled to Morgan, just loud enough for Hotch to hear. "Lets dance." Emily started copying Haley, riding up and down Morgan. Morgan started grinding against her and making out with her. They could feel Hotch's intense stare on them.

When the bartender waved them over for Emily's drink, they walked over. Emily leaned back against Morgan again and Morgan wrapped his arms around her waist, pushing his face in her hair. They turned and saw that Hotch had backed away from Haley and was running his hands up and down his face. They decided to take pity on him and walked over.

"Hotch," Morgan said, squeezing the man's shoulder. "Hotch, it was all an act! We wanted to see what you would do and you had a priceless reaction!"

Hotch glared at them. "You scared the shit out of me!"

Morgan laughed and turned to Haley. "Hi Haley. Nice to see you again."

"Hello Morgan." She said politely. "Thanks for ruining our evening."

Morgan laughed again and pulled her into a hug. "No problem! It was pretty fun though. Right Prentiss?"

Emily fake shuttered. "Ug! I will never be that close to you again!"

"You had better not get that close to him again Prentiss!" Hotch warned.

Morgan and Emily laughed and walked away.

* * *

Morgan, Emily,and Reid were doing paper work at their desks. Morgan crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it at Emily. Emily laughed and threw it back. They took turns playfully throwing it at each other.

"Agent Morgan!" Strauss snapped, walking past them and heading towards Hotch's office. "Agent Prentiss! I would have thought you two would act like adults instead of two school children at their first sleep over. I suggest you get back to work."

"Yes ma'am." They said in sync, pretending to do their paperwork again.

As soon as Strauss turned her back, Morgan flipped both middle fingers at her back and mouthed "Fuck you! Fuck you, you old bat!" Emily laughed before she could stop herself and Morgan instantly had his pen back in his hand looking like he was innocently working like a good boy. Emily did the same but they could feel Strauss's death glare on them. When she entered Hotch's office, they busted out laughing.

When Hotch's office door opened, they quickly got back to fake working.

Hotch had seen what Morgan did when Strauss had turned her back to him. He had busted out laughing.

Morgan grabbed the piece of paper that they had thrown and wrote a note before crumbling it back up and throwing it at Emily again.

**Strauss is a bitch. I can't wait until she retires.**

**That probably wont happen for a long time. **

**A man can dream, can't he? :)**

**Lol. What is Reid doing?**

Morgan glanced at Reid's desk and saw his friend asleep with his head in his arms and his chin to his desk.

**Sleeping. **

**Lets write on his face!**

Morgan laughed and nodded. He grabbed a marker from his desk and walked over to Reid with Emily right on his heels. Emily gently pushed Reid's hair out of his face and Morgan uncapped the marker.

Just before the marker touched Reid's forehead, they looked up and saw Rossi coming.

"Uh-oh," Emily said. "Hurry and put the marker away! Uncle Davey is coming!"

Rossi laughed, then glanced over their shoulders. "I don't think it's me you should be afraid of."

They turned and saw Hotch shooting them an even colder glare than Strauss was, just daring them to move the marker a millimeter closer to Reid. They were staring up at him with the 'deer in headlights' look. Hotch pointed to their desks and they scurried away from Reid and sat at their desks with their heads down. Hotch walked back into his office.

* * *

On the plane ride home from the most recent case Hotch was sitting across from Rossi, Emily and Morgan sat next to each other, Reid was stretched out on the couch, and JJ was sitting by herself. Hotch looked up from the file he was reading and saw that he was the only one awake. Rossi had his head leaning against the window and his mouth open slightly. Hotch closed the file and walked over to JJ, pulling the book out of her hands and setting it next to her. Then he went over to Morgan and Emily. Morgan still had his headphones on and his head was against the headrest. Hotch took the headphones off Morgan's head, Morgan subconsciously leaning into Hotch's hand, and set them on the table in front of him. He leaned over to Emily, who was resting her head against Morgan's shoulder. Hotch pulled her coat, that she was using as a blanket, up to her chin. Then he moved to Reid. He stood over the young man and brushed his hair out of his face. Reid rolled over to face Hotch, and moaned happily with a goofy smile on his face. It was clear that he didn't want Hotch to stop so Hotch didn't. He stood there for several minutes running his hand through Reid's chestnut brown hair. Finally Hotch stopped and laid down on the couch opisite to Reid and fell into a peacefull sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's note: This chapter is for Sleepinthepasture and Fanfic lover for their requests to see more Garcia and Reid. I am always open for suggestions. I am also truly sorry for not updating sooner. I had finals and was at my best friend's house. I'll try to update soon.**

* * *

The team was in the briefing room and JJ and Garcia were informing them about the details of their next case.

When they finished Hotch stood up and said "Alright, JJ and Prentiss will work on the geographical profile, Morgan, Rossi, and I will interview the friends and family of the victim, Reid will stay here and help Garcia."

"What?!" Reid exclaimed. "Why?"

"Because the last case you to follow upon a tip _alone _and you almost got killed." Hotch reminded him.

"This is _so _unfair." Reid grumbled. Hotch shot him a look.

"But why do I have to stay here with Garcia?" Reid asked, then winced as he realised how rude it sounded.

"Oh!" Garcia cried in fake offence. "I see how it is! You don't want to be by the God of all wisdom and knowledge! Is it because my computer is smarter than you?"

Reid gave her a weak smile. "Garcia, you know I didn't mean it like that."

Garcia stuck her nose in the air and walked out of the room.

"Garcia! I didn't mean it like that!" Reid called, rushing after her.

"Wheels up in thirty." Hotch said to the rest of the team, as if nothing had just happened.

* * *

Morgan texted Reid two days later.

**Kid, you had better be taking care of my girl. **

_What would you do to her if she was acting naughty? ;)_

Morgan laughed.

**Hey Baby Girl. Did he leave his phone in your office. **

_Yeah. He was bored out of his mind so he left to find something to keep him entertained. For a genius, he has a short attention span with everything that does not involve work. I just don't see how he can stare at a map for seven hours yet he can't sit still for ten minutes doing nothing._

**Hahaha. Yup. That's Reid for ya! **

_Oh shit! He's coming back! I have to delete the messages. I'll talk to you later._

**Later Baby Girl.**

_Morgan, was Garcia texting you?_

**Nope. Why? **Morgan lied. He could tell it was Reid texting him now.

_Because my phone was not in the same spot where I left it._

**Maybe it fell and she picked it up. **

_Maybe..._

"Morgan!" Hotch yelled.

Morgan almost dropped his phone as he jumped at the sudden noise. He turned and saw Hotch standing right next to him. _ When did he get there, _Morgan wondered. "Hey Hotch."

"Who are you texting?" Hotch asked.

"Reid." Morgan answered. "He has been whining and crying about being left behind."

"He needs to learn." Hotch replied before walking away.

* * *

Morgan arrived at Hotch's house and walked into the backyard. There he saw the team in the pool. Morgan tensed up and stopped in his tracks. He had thought he was ready to be in the water again, but realized he wasn't ready yet.

"Hey Morgan!" Reid called. "Hop in!"

Morgan put on a mask and shook his head. Only Hotch saw how petrified he was. Hotch told everyone to go inside and climbed out of the pool. When everyone was gone he walked over to Morgan and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I know how scared you are of water, and I think you should try to conquer that fear. "

Morgan looked down at his feet. "That's what I came here to do but I can't. I... I'm too afraid."

"Come on," Hotch said wrapping his arm around Morgan's shoulders and leading him towards the pool.

Morgan planted his feet ten feet away from the water. Hotch gave a good pull but he would have better luck trying to move a car. "It's okay. I'll help you."

Morgan glanced up at his boss before taking another step. He knew that Hotch wouldn't let anything bad happen to him. He stopped at the stairs. Slowly he put a foot on the first step, the water was up to his ankle. He kept taking the steps and soon he was fully in the water. His eyes were squeezed shut. The water was up to his waist. Hotch kept his arm around Morgan's shoulders as they continued to walk deeper into the pool.

When the water got to Morgan's chest he stopped as all the memories came to him, and He buried his face in Hotch's chest, shaking. "Hotch, no. No more!"

Hotch's heart broke for him. "Alright Derek. Alright. We won't go any further."

Morgan nodded into his chest as Hotch rubbed his hand up and down Morgan's shoulders. Hotch led him out of the pool.

When they got inside Emily hugged him and told him how proud she was for him facing his fears.

"You saw that?" Morgan asked, embarrassed.

"Yeah, and you did awesome." Reid pipped up.

Morgan smiled at him. "Thanks kid."

"Morgan, next weekend you are coming back here and we are going to get you over this fear." Hotch ordered. Morgan nodded. He really did have the best team in the world.


	16. Chapter 16

Morgan stood in front of his gym locker and pulled out is gloves. He walked over to the punching bag and started throwing punches, taking out every ounce of his rage on the bag. He focused every muscle in is arms on punching as hard as he could at the bag.

"Morgan!" a voice rang out.

Morgan turned to see where the voice came from, and the punching bag swung back and hit him, knocking him to the floor. His friend, Agent Kyle Thorn, rushed over and helped him up.

"Way to go thornbush!" Morgan mumbled.

"It ain't my fault y'all can't multitask!" Kyle laughed.

Morgan gave him a playful shove when he got to his feet. "What did you want anyways?"

"Hard ass Hotchner was lookin' for ya." Kyle told him.

Morgan cocked an eyebrow. "Do you know what for?"

Kyle shook his head. "Hotchner told Jason. Jason told me. I just told you. I don't know nuthin' more than that."

Morgan nodded. "Alright. I am going to go take a shower. Tell him I will meet him up there in a few minutes."

Kyle nodded and started to walk away. "Don't fall in the shower too!" He called over his shoulder. Morgan flipped him off before heading to the locker room.

* * *

Morgan knocked on the door to Hotch's office.

"Come in," Hotch's muffled voice came through the door.

Morgan walked in, and stood in front of his desk. "You wanted to see me?"

Hotch nodded. "Sit down."

Morgan obeyed.

"You know Kyle Thorn and Jason Blake, right?" Hotch asked. Morgan nodded. "You are good friends with them?" Morgan nodded again. "Well their team leader, Mark Stevens, has requested for you to join their team."

"What?" Morgan gasped. "But what about our team?"

"Morgan, we will be fine without you. I think you should take the job." Hotch told him.

Morgan's jaw dropped. He could not believe Hotch had just said that. It sounded like Hotch didn't want him around anymore. "Fine. I'll take the job." Then Morgan stormed out of the office, hurt and angry.

* * *

On Monday Morgan didn't come in. Emily thought he might be sick. She texted him and asked him where he was. He didn't answer. He had not replied to any of her texts since Friday. She went into Hotch's office with Reid and Rossi close behind.

"Where's Morgan?" Emily asked.

Hotch looked up from the file he was reading. "Didn't he tell you?" They all shook their heads. "He got transferred to a different team."

"What?!" They screamed in sync. They all started talking at once.

"Enough!" Hotch cried. "What's done is done!"

He ushered them out of his office and watched as they sulked to their desks.

* * *

"Hey!" Kyle called as Morgan walked to his new desk. "It's Manly Morgan! Glad to have you on the team!"

Morgan gave him half a smile and sat down. He looked to the man sitting across from him. "Shane Matthews, right?" The man nodded. Morgan took the remaining paperwork from the desk and started it. He couldn't focus much as his thoughts kept drifting to his team and how Hotch didn't want him around anymore. That thought was too painful so he pushed all those thoughts away.

Every spare moment Morgan spent in the gym, taking all his frustrations out on the punching bag. One day Hotch came down and saw Morgan there. Morgan quickly left the room. Every day after that, Hotch went down there to try and talk to Morgan but Morgan kept running away from him. He did that whenever he saw any member of his old team.

Hotch finally got sick of it and decided to follow him.

"Go away Hotch." Morgan mumbled, walking faster.

"Morgan, can't we talk about this?" Hotch begged.

"There is nothing to talk about. You made your feelings crystal clear." Morgan growled.

"What are you talking about?" Hotch asked.

Morgan struggled to keep his emotions under control as he felt tears sting his eyes. "That you don't want me on the team anymore."

Hotch stopped and grabbed Morgan's arm to stop him to. "Why in the world would you think that?"

"You said, 'Morgan, we will be fine without you. I think you should take the job.' What did you expect me to think?!" Morgan snapped.

"I didn't mean it like that." Hotch whispered. "Morgan, I didn't want you to go. I just thought that it would be selfish of me to keep you with the team just because of how fond of you I am. That would not have been fair to you. I am sorry Derek. You can come back to the team if you want to."

"Do you want me back on the team?" Morgan asked.

"I think you should do what you want, but yes, I do want you back." Hotch confessed.

Morgan smiled and nodded. "Okay, I'll come back. But you have to break the news to Stevens. He scares me."

Hotch laughed and walked away. Boy it was good to have him back.


	17. Chapter 17

Morgan was at the gym when he over heard someone call Reid a wimp. "What did you just say?" He asked walking up to the agent, he recognised him as Bobby Cantrell.

"I called Dr. Reid a wimp." Bobby repeated.

"Take it back," Morgan growled.

"No. He is a little baby back bitch who can't pass his firing qualifications." Bobby replied.

"If anyone here is a wimp, it's you, Cantrell. You are just a momma's boy who doesn't out in the field because your momma is afraid that her baby boy is going to get hurt. That is why you always do research and no field work." Morgan instigated.

Bobby punched Morgan and Morgan tackled him onto some mats. They rolled around punching and kicking each other. Morgan was winning.

They heard people rushing into the room. Morgan pinned Bobby to the ground just before hands grabbed him from behind. Morgan struggled away from the hands that were pulling him off Bobby. Bobby tried to kick Morgan and Morgan dodged it, before kicking Bobby in the balls.

"Morgan stop!" Hotch ordered from behind.

Morgan realised that it was Hotch who was pulling him off Bobby, and instantly stopped struggling. He yanked out of Hotch's grasp and stormed out of the room. He walked to the locker room and started pacing. Then he turned and punched the door of his locker, making it dent inward from the force of his fist.

"Morgan, what the hell was that all about?" Hotch asked, entering the room.

"Cantrell was talking shit about Reid, I talked shit about him. At least I had the balls to say it to hIs face, unlike that cowardly bastered. Anyway, he punched me, I tackled him, we got into a fight."

"Did he hit you first?" Hotch asked.

Morgan nodded. "Yes sir. I'm not so stupid that I would throw the first punch."

Hotch nodded. "Good. That way it was self-defense."

"That's what I was going for." Morgan told him.

Hotch made a small smile and left the locker room, with Morgan close behind.

* * *

Late that night Hotch walked into his office and saw Reid asleep on his couch. He walked over and whispered, "Spencer. Spencer, wake up." Hotch shook Reid's shoulder lightly.

"Dad stop." Reid mumbled, pushing Hotch's hand away.

A warm feeling filled Hotch's chest, but he shook Reid's shoulder again.

"_Daddy, _" Reid whined, burying his face in the pillow and scooting away from Hotch. "Don't wanna get up."

The warm feeling in Hotch's chest filled his whole body as he gazed down at Reid. Slowly, he went back and sat at his desk. He glanced down at the bullpen and the smile on his face grew.

There, Emily asleep with her head on her desk, a pen loosely gripped in her hand. To the left he saw Morgan asleep too. He was reclined in his chair with his feet in desk. Hotch stood and walked over.

He went to Emily and took the pen out of her hand. Then he wrapped his arm around the front of her shoulders with her chin in the crook of his elbow. She rolled her head so it rested on Hotch's shoulder as he moved her so that she was leaning against the back of the chair. After she was in a more comfortable position, he moved over to Morgan. He draped Morgan's coat over the young man's sleeping form, then turned and did the same thing with Emily.

He turned and was about to go back to his office when he saw Mark Stevens turn a corner and start walking towards Morgan, looking pissed. Hotch protectively walked up and blocked his path.

"Out of my way Hotchner." Stevens ordered.

"No," Hotch said firmly.

"Your agent just beat the shit out of my best agent and now I am going to do the same to him." Stevens said.

"It was self defense." Hotch told him.

"Self defense my ass! Morgan is a hot head who was just looking to start a fight." Stevens pointed out.

"And Cantrell isn't?" Hotch countered.

"You are just a pussy Hotchner." Stevens spat, ignoring the question. "You had better get out of my face or I will roundhouse your ass!"

Hotch laughed. "_I'm _a pussy? _Reid _has bigger balls than you and Cantrell. You just try to act tough to scare people, but any one of my agents could whoop you and your whole team."

Stevens punched Hotch in the face and tackled him to the ground. Hotch easily had Stevens pinned on his belly with and arm twisted behind his back. "Don't you _ever _threaten me or my team again! Got it?" Hotch growled in Stevens's ear, twisting the arm back farther. Stevens groaned in pain. "Got it?!" Hotch repeated, giving the arm a firm yank. Stevens yelped, nodding vigorously. "Good," Hotch whispered, jumping off of him. Stevens looked up with petrified eyes before tripping over his own feet as he ran away.

Hotch looked back at Morgan. _Is Stevens _that_ pathetic that he has to wait untill someone is asleep before they attack the person? _Hotch wondered in disgust. Morgan looked so innocent when he was asleep. Same with Emily. Reid always looked innocent and young, but when he was sleeping he looked like a teenager no older that seventeen. Hotch knew that he was way over protective of his team, but maybe it wasn't such a bad thing.

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry I made Hotch do stuff that he wouldn't do on the show but I wanted to mix up the story a bit and add Hotch fighting (even though I know that he would never get into a fight on the show with anyone other than an Unsub). Sorry if you didn't like it.**


	18. Chapter 18

Morgan woke up with a head-splitting headache. He groaned as he opened his eyes to the dimly lit room.

"Morgan!" Hotch cried, making Morgan groan again. He rushed over and crouched next to the younger man, helping him into a sitting position.

Morgan peered around the small room. "Hotch? Where are we?"

"I don't know. I woke up a couple of hours ago and a man walked into the room. He told me that we are part of a game that he is playing with Reid. He gives Reid a clue to a location and if Reid doesn't figure out the clue and go the location in a certain amount of time, we will get punished." Hotch told him.

Morgan gave a small smile. "It's Reid. He will figure out those clues no problem."

Hotch nodded in agreement. "Yes, but in the meantime, what are we going to do?"

"Survive?" Morgan suggested.

Hotch gave a light chuckle. "Easier said than done."

The door opened just then and a masked man walked in. He pointed to Morgan. "You. Follow me." Morgan shot Hotch a glance. At Hotch's nod, he followed the man out of the room.

* * *

Hotch looked up when the door opened several minutes later. Morgan was shoved back into the room bruised and bloody, before the door slammed shut. Hotch ran over to Morgan and started accessing the damage.

"Hotch," Morgan moaned. "He had a camera. I am certain he made Reid watch."

"I figured he would," Hotch mumbled.

"The poor kid." Morgan whispered sadly.

Hotch came to the conclusion that there were no broken bones or fatal injuries. He moved Morgan so that he was resting against the wall. "Sleep Derek." Morgan nodded and closed his eyes, soon his breathing slowed into shallow, even breaths.

* * *

Reid watched as the man beat Morgan. _All my fault. All my fault. _He repeated in his mind with each blow that struck his best friend. When the beating finally stopped, the masked man appeared on the screen again but this time he was sitting behind a desk.

"That was strike one. If you fail to solve the clues two more times, your friends will die." The man told him.

He and the rest of the team, who watched this as well, gasped. Reid promised himself that he would not let his friends die because of his inability to figure out the clues.

* * *

The next time the man entered, he took Morgan again. He walked the agent to a room that had a TV in it. The man strapped him down into a chair and pressed the play button on a DVD player, before walking out of the room, saying, "This is what happens when people are incompetent for solving puzzles."

On the screen was Reid as he walked to his car. A man walked up behind him and shot him in the chest.

"NO!" Morgan screamed. "REID!"

Reid was laying in a large pile of blood. The man walked over and whispered, "Now it's Agent Rossi's turn. Hopefully he wont end up like you. But soon your friends will die a slow painful death. All because of you Dr. Reid."

The video ended after Reid took his last shuttering breath.

"REID!" Morgan screamed as he started sobbing. The man came back and brought him back to his and Hotch's cell.

Morgan collapsed on the ground as the door shut.

Hotch had never seen Morgan cry so to see him like this was completely shocking. _What in the hell did they do to him to break him? _Hotch wondered. He pulled Morgan into his arms.

Morgan buried his head in Hotch's chest as he sobbed his heart out. "He is dead Hotch. Reid is..." Another sob escaped from his throat.

Hotch pulled Morgan closer as he began to cry too.

* * *

Reid watched in horror as he saw Morgan being forced to watch a fake video of him dying. Tears fell down his cheeks as he saw Morgan screaming and sobbing. Them the film snapped to a shot of Morgan and Hotch sobbing in each others arms. Everyone except for Rossi was crying over the scene in front of them.

The masked man came back on screen from behind his desk. "One last chance Dr. Reid. If you mess up again, you will get a video of their deaths." Then the screen went black.

* * *

"Hotch?" Morgan whispered. "Do you think Rossi will figure out the clues on time?"

"I hope so Derek." Hotch sighed.

"Hotch, I miss Reid." Morgan's voice broke.

"I do too." Hotch whispered.

The door opened but no one was there. They stood up and went out of the room. They walked down the hall and up a flight of stairs and out of the building. Hotch realised that they were just a few blocks away from the BAU and started to run, with Morgan close behind.

* * *

They walked into the bullpen and stopped in their tracks. There, at his desk, sat a red-eyed Reid.

"REID!" They screamed and rushed forward and hugged Reid.

"We thought you were dead." Morgan sobbed.

"It was a trick... fake tape..." Reid mumbled from where his face was buried in Hotch's shirt.

"Why would he let us go?" Hotch asked.

"Solved all... puzzles." Reid told him. "He gave us the address and SWAT headed over there right away. We were just about to leave when you guys came."

Everyone else came running in just then. Hotch couldn't help but be reminded of how children would act after their parent just got back from a long buisness trip as Emily and JJ ran to him and Morgan. He kindof liked the anollogy.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's note: Thank you to Sleepinthepasture for all the awesome reviews! I love seeing them after I update every chapter! Thanks!**

* * *

Morgan sat at the bar after another hard case. He groaned when his phone went off. He took his phone out of his pocket and saw a text from Emily.

**Hey.**

**Hy Em. Whtcha doin?**

**Trying to get the images from the last case out of my head. **

**Sam hre.**

**When you spell "Same here" that way, you must be drunk.**

**Ya. Nd it wrkin to gt th pics ou of m hed. **

Emily knew that that was supposed to say "Ya. And it's working to get the pics out of my head." By now she could almost always understand Morgan's drunk texts.

**Are you at the same bar as usual?**

**Ya. **

**I'm on my way. **

Emily arrived fifteen minutes later and sat next to Morgan at the bar.

"Have a drink Princess," Morgan slurred, sliding a shot to her.

"Thanks." Emily took the shot and ordered another.

* * *

Three hours later Morgan and Emily were beyond wasted. The bartender switched shifts with another guy. The guy walked over by Morgan and Emily, before recognising them.

"Oh no! Not you two again!" He groaned.

"Nice to see you too!" Morgan joked.

"How many drinks have you guys had?" The bartender asked.

Morgan tried to remember, using his fingers to count.

"Never mind. Just give me your keys." The bartender sighed.

"Wow now! Come on Fred! No need for that!" Morgan cried.

"My name is Thomas." The bartender corrected.

"It is?" Morgan asked.

Thomas sighed again. "Yes. Now hand over the keys agents."

The two agents grumbled but passed them over.

Just then someone at the other end of the bar passed out and fell off their stool.

"Hey look Em! It's Pretty Boy!" Morgan cried happily. They ran over to their friend and dragged him over to sit with them. Morgan propped Reid up and grabbed his jaw to make it look like the boy was talking but it was really Morgan, like a ventriloquist.

"I am Reid. I may look human but as soon as I start blurting out statistics, it proves that I am actually a robot." Morgan made Reid say.

Emily busted out laughing and Thomas just shook his head.

"Come on Tommy!" Morgan laughed. "You gotta admit, it's pretty funny!"

"What's your boss's name?" Thomas asked.

"Hotch." Morgan told him.

Okay. On a completely different subject, can I use your phone?" Thomas asked.

"What happened to yours?" Morgan asked.

To test how drunk they were Thomas replied, "It was eaten by a dinosaur."

"That sucks." Morgan slurred. "Sure, you can use my phone."

Thomas shook his head at the man and started going through the agent's contacts. Finally he found the right number and pressed call.

"Hotchner," the man answered.

"Hey um, this is the bartender for Cody's Bar and Grill. I have your two agents that were here the other night. They are way too drunk to drive. There is also another man with them who has already passed out" Thomas explained.

"Is the other man with them very skinny with long brown hair that falls in his face?" Hotch asked.

"Yes sir" Thomas answered.

Hotch pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright. I will be there in twenty minutes."

"Okay. Thank you sir." Thomas said before hanging up.

* * *

"Morgan! Prentiss! Reid!" Hotch growled, approaching the three. "March your asses inoo my car right now!"

"Reid may have some trouble getting there." Morgan laughed.

One look from Hotch shut him up real fast. Morgan and Emily stumbled past Hotch and went into his car. Thomas helped Hotch drag Reid into the back seat of his car.

"Thank you." Hotch said shaking the younger man's hand.

"No problem sir," Thomas replied before walking back into the bar.

Hotch drove to his house and deposited Reid and Emily in his guest bedrooms and laid Morgan on the couch. All three were passed out before he even got to the house. Hotch flopped down on his bed, exhausted, and was asleep in seconds.

* * *

The next morning, Hotch went downstairs and stopped at the sight in the living room. Morgan and Reid were wrestling and rolling around. They had Hotch's furniture moved out of the way so they would hit them. Morgan pinned Reid to the ground, holding his arms down with his knees and sitting on top of the younger man. Morgan was messing up Reid's hair when Reid brought up his knee, hitting Morgan in the balls.

Morgan curled into a ball and started rolling around, clutching his nuts. Hotch started laughing as Reid stood up and fixed his hair. "Very nice Reid!" Hotch praised.

"What's the matter Morgan? Can't take on someone half your size?" Reid teased.

Morgan flipped him off as he continued holding his injured parts. Hotch patted Morgan on the back sympathetically before walking into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee.

"Where is Prentiss?" Hotch asked, taking a sip.

Morgan, who was slowly standing up, said, "You know girls. They take two hours just to do their hair, and another two for makeup."

"Actually it's one hour and forty-eight minutes. Get it right!" Emily fake scolded.

"My bad," Morgan said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Hotch chuckled and took another sip. Then he went upstairs to wake up Jack.

* * *

When they came back downstairs, Morgan was taking on Emily in another wrestling match.

"Hey Jack!" Reid called. "Help us pin Uncle Derek!" Jack giggled and joins the three.

"Oh no!" Morgan cried. "You can't use Jack's help! That's not far! You guys will totaly win with him on your team!"

"It's okay Uncle Derek. I'll go easy on you." Jack reassured as he jumped on the older man.

Morgan let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.

"You three hurt my son and I'll hurt _you_!" Hotch warned.

"I think it's the other way around Hotch!" Morgan called back. "This kid is really strong! I would hate to get on his bad side!" Morgan tilted his head back and winked at Hotch.

Suddenly Jack turned and tackled Reid.

"Hey!" Reid cried.

"Oh yeah! Jack is on my team! Your going down now, Pretty Boy!" Morgan cried. Jack laughed.

* * *

Half an hour later Hotch went back into the living room and saw Morgan had Jack on his shoulders.

"Jack David Hotchner is the wrestling champion!" Morgan cheered as he bounced the laughing boy on his shoulders.

Hotch went over and picked Jack off Morgan's shoulders and set him on the ground before tackling Morgan. "Next champion is going to be Aaron Stevens Hotchner!"

"Dream on old man!" Morgan laughed as he and his boss struggled for the upper hand. _Now here is a real challenge! _Morgan thought. _This is going to be fun!_

* * *

**Author's note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! And just FYI, I made up Jack and Hotch's middle names. I seriously doubt they told us in the show, and the names sounded like they fit so I had that be their full names.**


	20. Chapter 20

"Morgan! Reid!" Hotch called from his office. He waved his hand, summoning the two young men to his office. Morgan and Reid shared a look before following Hotch.

Once in the office Reid shifted his weight from foot to foot nervously.

Morgan elbowed him before whispering, "Dude, calm down."

"Why are we in here?" Reid asked.

"I don't know, but I seriously doubt he is about to yell at us."

"How do you know?"

"He would have looked alot more pissed when he called us up here."

"Yeah but-!"

"You do know that I called you up here so I could talk to you, right?" Hotch interrupted. "Not so you could talk to each other."

Morgan and Reid blushed.

"I need to talk to you two about-," Hotch started but was cut off by his phone ringing. After he hung up the phone he growled, "We will finish this later. Strauss wants me in her office." Morgan and Reid nodded and hurried out of the room.

As soon as they sat down at their desks, Morgan texted Reid.

**Alright kid. You were right. Hotch was totally about to yell at us! **

_I told you!_

**What did we do?**

_I have no idea. _

**Come on Mr. Eidetic Memory! Use that big brain of yours! **

_You have a brain too you know! You may not use it very often but it's still in there! _

Morgan shot Reid a glare, but Reid just smirked back at him.

**Watch it kid!**

Then Emily texted Morgan.

**Talk out loud! I feel left out!**

**Bud out Prentiss! We are having a private conversation!**

**About...?**

**PRIVATE conversation! **

**Fine! What did Hotch call you guys into his office for?**

**... That's what the conversation is about. Hotch got a call from the Wicked Witch of the West before he could tell us why. Pretty Boy and I are trying to figure out what we did wrong. **

**Hmmm. Well good luck with that!**

**Yeah, we'll need it.**

* * *

"Morgan," Hotch called as he stopped behind the younger agent. Morgan nearly jumped out of his skin. "Uhh, do you have the report I asked for?"

"N-n-no s-sir," Morgan stuttered, fumbling to find it on his desk. "I-I'll get right on it s-sir!"

Hotch raised an eyebrow at his agent's strange behavior. "Oookkaayy... You do that Derek."

"Y-yes sir!" Morgan replied and started writing frantically on the report.

Hotch just shook his head and walked away.

* * *

Later Hotch walked up behind Reid at his desk. "Reid, have you-?"

Reid let out a surprised cry and fell to the floor before quickly scrambling back into his seat.

"I... uh... I just wanted to know if you have seen JJ." Hotch stated.

"No. Why? Do you want me to go find her? I'll look over the whole building- well except the girl's bathroom of course, Emily could do that- and in the parking lot and-!"

"Its okay Reid. I just wanted to give her this file." Hotch explained slowly.

"I'll go find her and give it to her for you." Reid said, snatching the file out of Hotch's grasp and hurried away.

Hotch gaped as he watched Reid trip over his own feet just to bring JJ the file. What in the world had gotten into his team? Why we're they acting so weird all of the sudden? Hotch had to get to the bottom of this.

* * *

"Morgan and Reid, can I see you in my office?" Hotch called before walking back his office. Morgan and Reid shared a terrified look before slowly walking towards Hotch's office.

"Listen Hotch, we are so sorry for whatever we did!" Reid blurted.

"We don't even know what it is that we did but it must have been pretty bad so we are sorry!" Morgan added.

"We tried to make you happy again-!" Reid started.

"-so you would forgive us but-!"

"-you still must be mad at us-!"

"-or you wouldn't have called us in here!" Morgan finished. Both men paused to take a breather.

Hotch was beyond confused. "I... ummmm... what? Mad at you?"

They nodded.

"Why would you think-?" Hotch started but paused, dropping his head in his hand. "What did you two do now?"

"We have no idea! That's kind of the whole problem!" Morgan pointed out.

"Guys. I did not call you in here to yell at you." Hotch told them.

"You didn't?" Reid asked.

Hotch shook his head. "I called you in here so I could ask you why you two were acting so weird today. I guess I just found my answer."

"Then why did you call us in this morning?" Morgan asked.

"Jack wanted to know if you guys would like to come over for supper this weekend." Hotch explained.

The two men sighed with relief.

"So we were worried sick this whole day over nothing?!" Morgan asked. Hotch nodded.

"Hotch we would love to come over this weekend." Reid said before dragging Morgan out of the room.

* * *

**Author's note: I found this great pick of Morgan and Reid so I will be changing the cover image when I update tomorrow. **


	21. Chapter 21

Morgan walked into the bullpen as sick as a dog. He had to drag his butt to work and was determined not to be sent home. He sat down at his desk having a coughing attack. He prayed that Hotch wouldn't notice.

"Are you okay?" Emily asked.

"Yeah." That couldn't have been any farther from the truth. His voice was very hoarse when he spoke and his throat stung. He stopped himself from going through all of his symptoms. It would only make him feel worse.

Emily didn't believe him for one second but didn't push the subject.

Morgan didn't know why, but he had the strongest urge to see Hotch.

He opened the door to Hotch's office.

"Morgan," Hotch said in acknowledgement of his presence, not looking up from the files he was reading. Morgan wondered vaguely how Hotch always knew who was coming without looking. "What can I do for you?"

"Hey, Hotch. I just came here because…uh. Well, um…" Morgan tried to remember what he had wanted to say, but it was hard when all these black dots were suddenly dancing across his vision and he felt so awful.

"Your articulateness today is inspiring," Hotch said wryly, still absorbed in his work.

"Er—yes. Hey, why's it so hot in here?" Morgan asked croakily, and his voice sounded kind of weird, even to his own ears. He had another coughing attack and began hacking deeply and desperately, trying to get the mucus out of his abused lungs so he could breathe.

Hotch looked up at this now and Morgan thought that his face paled suddenly, but it was hard to tell because the black dots were blooming and growing to encompass his entire view of the office.

"Shit, Derek," Hotch breathed upon seeing Morgan, who was swaying alarmingly and had a sheen of sweat on his pale face. He stood and quickly began crossing the room, sensing that Morgan wouldn't be standing up much longer.

"Hotch… I don't feel so good. I'm going to sit down for a minute. Okay?" Morgan asked weakly. And then suddenly he was falling, but it didn't matter because Hotch was there to grab him before he hit the ground. The last thing he felt before he surrendered to unconsciousness was Hotch's strong arms holding him up. _Hotch's here, _Morgan thought dimly as he faintly heard Hotch calling for Rossi. _So I'll be okay now._

* * *

"Dave!" Hotch yelled as he dragged Morgan over to the couch and sat him down gently before stepping back to assess the situation anxiously. Morgan was just sitting there, slowly blinking. He clearly wasn't recognizing his surroundings and it was freaking Hotch out. "Dave!"

It looked like he was going to have to at least start dealing with this on his own until Rossi finished doing whatever the hell it was that was delaying him so much. Right— first things first. Hotch tentatively reached out and placed his hand on Morgan's forehead, cringing at the heat he felt there— definitely a fever.

Morgan's eyelids fluttered briefly open at the contact, revealing hazy, fever-bright brown eyes, which Harvey added to his mental list of symptoms. Morgan tried to lean into the coolness of Hotch's hand before his head lolled to the side and he gave up and drifting back to sleep or unconsciousness— Hotch couldn't tell which. _Lethargy._

He then added Morgan's unhealthy pallor, flushed cheeks, and perspiring brow to the list, satisfied with his budding talent as a diagnostician. But perhaps the most troubling symptom was Morgan's labored breathing— he was wheezing and taking breaths that were far too shallow to be natural, not to mention the slight rattling noise his chest was making upon inhaling and exhaling.

Morgan's eyes opened again as he descended into the throes of another coughing fit. It made Hotch's chest hurt in sympathy listening to the younger man struggle to clear his congested lungs.

Rossi rushed into the room holding a thermometer.

"How in the-?" Hotch started.

Rossi cut him off. "Emily told me that Morgan came into work sick today but refused to go home. He is such a hard head some times." Then he turned to Morgan. "Wake up, kid."

Morgan blinked a few times. "Rossi?" he croaked.

"I hear you don't feel so good, huh?" Rossi said.

Morgan shook his head and sniffled pathetically.

"Alright, well why don't we take your temperature, okay?" Rossi continued softly. Morgan nodded again and dutifully opened his mouth for him.

They all waited in silence for a few moments while the thermometer did its work. Rossi seemed perfectly at ease, Morgan was just kind of out of it, and Hotch was pacing around in the background.

Rossi took the thermometer to read it and Hotch and felt his heart plummet in his chest when he turned to him and motioned him over, a flash of concern illuminating his face for the first time since he had entered the office.

"You're going to have to take him to the hospital or the doctor's, Aaron," he said in a hushed tone. "This isn't just a cold— his fever's at 103.1. That's bad." Hotch nodded and helped Morgan to his car.

* * *

When they got to the hospital, Hotch parked and half-dragged, half-carried Morgan into the emergency room where he was given several forms to fill out by a harried nurse who looked like she hated her life. He ushered Morgan over to a small two-person bench and sat down next to him, figuring that this way he'd be able to catch the young man if he keeled over again. What he didn't expect was for Morgan to immediately snuggle into his side, rest his head on Hotch's shoulder, and fall back asleep, apparently having decided that Hotch would make a good pillow.

Morgan's flushed face looked peaceful and Rossi wasn't here to take embarrassing pictures, so Hotch decided to just let it be. He began filling out the forms, grateful that Morgan was on his left side so that his writing hand was free.

"Are you allergic to anything?" Hotch asked the air, trying to diffuse a little of the one-sided tension he was feeling.

Morgan didn't answer, of course; he was still asleep. What he _did _do was scoot even closer to Hotch. Now Hotch's left arm was pinned to his side uncomfortably. He realized that he could feel the heat radiating off Morgan's body through his suit and hoped that the doctor would hurry up.

His left arm was starting to lose feeling so he had no choice but to pull it out from where it was wedged between his body and Morgan's and put it around Morgan's shoulders, effectively drawing him even closer in a sort of sideways hug. He felt like a father comfortingly wrapping an arm around Morgan like this—like he would do for Jack. It had been a very long time since he had physical contact with someone like this since Haley and Jack were placed in witness protection and he had forgotten how…nice it was to feel the weight of another human being leaning on him, depending on him for comfort.

He filled the forms out as best as he could, although there were several gaps in his knowledge about Morgan's medical history that he knew he'd have to rectify later.

Finally the doctor came over.

"Agent Hotchner, I am Dr. Brown. I'm guessing you're here because Agent Morgan isn't feeling too well, eh?" Dr. Brown boomed so loudly that Morgan shifted and opened his eyes. When he realized that he was leaning onto Hotch he blushed and weakly pushed away, carefully avoiding eye contact with his boss. Hotch thought he heard Morgan mutter "no shit, Sherlock," in Dr. Brown's general direction and resisted the urge to smirk.

"That would be correct," Hotch said a bit more diplomatically. He hoped Morgan's fever had gone down a little— who knew what Morgan would tell Dr. Brown now that he was half delirious with fever?

"Alright, well, why don't you bring him back and we'll have a look and see what we can do about making him feel better!" Dr. Brown said, taking the clipboard of forms from Hotch and scanning through them.

"You don't know if your agent is allergic to anything?" Dr. Brown said, looking at the sections Hotch had left blank in puzzlement.

"Penicillin," Morgan rasped quietly. Hotch winced; that was definitely something he should have known. What if Dr. Brown had prescribed that for Morgan without him knowing?

"I didn't have time to finish filling out the forms," Hotch said lamely, because the blank spots were patched all over and not just at the end. Dr. Brown still looked a bit confused but didn't press the issue.

"Alright, well, I'll just ask if I need to know any of the information you didn't have a chance to fill out. Come on, we can head back to the examining room," Dr. Brown said, leading them back through the double doors and out of reception. It was slow going; Morgan was still leaning heavily on Hotch for support.

They got into the examination room and Hotch helped Morgan onto the table.

"Alright, so what seems to be the trouble?" Dr. Brown asked as he washed his hands and pulled on gloves.

"He's been coughing a lot, and it sounds pretty bad. There's also a fever of a little over 103, chills, dizziness, lethargy— he's been completely out of it the past hour or so. Fainted for a minute when he came into my office at work," Hotch listed, trying to keep the concern out of his tone and resisting the urge to wring his hands together nervously.

Dr. Brown began checking Morgan out then, feeling his lymph nodes and listening to his heart rate and telling him to breathe deeply (which only resulted in Morgan trying to hack his lungs up). Although Morgan was responsive to what Dr. Brown asked of him, he didn't say anything and he seemed to be submerged in a feverish haze.

Dr. Brown had him stick a thermometer under his tongue and when it beeped he frowned slightly.

"It's at 103.3 now," he said. "That's very high, but it's not life threatening until it starts getting past 104 or 105. I'm sure he's okay— with a fever this high some degree of delirium is to be expected. It's definitely pneumonia, Agent Hotchner. I'm going to put him on a pretty aggressive dose of antibiotics and write a prescription for an inhaler in case the coughing gets too bad. Fortunately it's walking pneumonia at this point so he can go home with you and recover there. Make sure he gets a lot of rest and plenty of fluids— and he'll probably have a lingering cough for a week or two." Dr. Brown said, beginning to scrawl out prescriptions. "But bring him back immediately if his fever gets above 104 or if he seems to worsen dramatically. You're lucky you came in now— if you had waited a few more hours it could have gotten much worse and we'd be looking at at least a week-long hospital stay."

"Alright," Hotch said, shaking the doctor's hand before helping Morgan out of the room.

Fortunately the hospital had a pharmacy where they were able to get Morgan's medicine and inhaler ready very quickly, so Hotch got the pills and managed to get Morgan to the car where he wearily lay down in the backseat. Hotch quickly texted Rossi to let him and the rest of the team know the diagnosis and that they were on their way back to Morgan's house.


	22. Chapter 22

"Why don't you go get into your pajamas while I get the first dose of these pills ready for you," Hotch instructed as they entered Morgan's house. Morgan took his jacket off and began trudging to his bedroom to change, his hand pressed against his forehead as though to ward off a headache and dizziness.

Morgan just shrugged and disappeared into the office. He emerged a few minutes later, still looking slightly unsteady on his feet. This time he was wearing a pair of old, faded sweats and a gray t-shirt.

"Morgan, come take these pills." Hotch called from the kitchen.

"But Hotch, you know I hate taking pills!" Morgan whined.

Hotch shot him a look and Morgan made a face but complied dutifully, wincing as the pills went down.

"I should start on my paperwork," Morgan said hoarsely.

"The hell you are," Hotch said firmly. "You are going to go to bed and rest for the next few days. No paperwork and no case work. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Morgan said quickly.

"You are going to sit your ass on that couch or in your bed and get plenty of rest and fluids so that you don't overdo it, understood?" Hotch ordered.

"Yes sir," Morgan repeated.

"Good. Why don't you just go sleep it off, Derek? I'm sure you'll feel much better tomorrow once those antibiotics start to kick in." Hotch suggested.

"Thanks for everything, Hotch," Morgan said rubbing his eyes, before heading off to bed.

* * *

Hotch awoke suddenly in the middle of the night to the sound of Morgan screaming— or rather, it _would _have been screaming were it not for the fact that he didn't have much of a voice at the present time. Instead, it was a garbled, painful sort of shrieking.

He was on his feet instantly and he grabbed his gun off the nightstand, before running out of the room. Upon seeing that there was no one in the kitchen or den, he crept over to Morgan's room and pushed open the door.

Morgan wasn't being attacked by someone as Hotch had initially feared. Instead he was in the throes of a rather intense nightmare. Hotch didn't know if that was good news or not— he could easily kick a burglar's ass , but comforting distraught adults wasn't exactly his forte. He usually left interviewing victim's family members to the other members of his team. Hotch holstered his gun and hurried to Morgan's side, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Hotch!" Morgan screamed. "Hotch, make him stop! Please! Stop him Hotch! I don't want to do that! Hotch!"

"Morgan," he said quietly but insistently, gently shaking Morgan's shoulders. "Morgan, wake up. You're fine. You're at your house with Hotch. Wake up, Derek."

He continued this mantra until Morgan's screams died down to whimpers. Finally Morgan opened his eyes, gasping for breath. His face was illuminated slightly by a ray of moonlight and Hotch could see confusion and disorientation in his expression. Finally it seemed to click where he was and what was happening and Hotch saw him flush with embarrassment.

"Sorry, Hotch," he said hoarsely, wincing as his sore throat protested against his earlier attempts to scream.

"Here, drink this," Hotch said, passing him a glass of water from the bedside table. Morgan took it and drank greedily. Then he handed the empty cup back to Hotch, drew himself into a sitting position, and leaned back against the headboard of the bed. He ran his hands over his head and face a couple of times.

"Sorry," Morgan repeated. "I have nightmares sometimes. It's worse when I'm sick. I get confused about what's real and what isn't."

"Don't apologize, Morgan. You want to talk about it?" Hotch asked.

Morgan wordlessly shook his head.

Hotch stood up and Morgan suddenly snaked his hand out and grabbed Hotch's wrist.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly when Hotch turned back to look at him, as if just realizing what he had done, as if it was shameful that he didn't want Hotch to leave. "I know I'm keeping you awake. You can go if you want, of course. Sorry." He let go of Hotch's wrist and looked away.

_Oh, Derek. _He actually thought that Hotch was going to abandon him when he was sick and had just had a nightmare? He felt the now familiar homicidal urge to go hunt down the infamous Carl Buford and kill him for traumatizing Morgan like this. "I'm not going anywhere, Morgan. I was just going to grab your medicine— it's time for another dose. I'll be right back, okay?" He said. Morgan nodded, still looking embarrassed but slightly less nervous now.

Hotch hurried to the bathroom and grabbed Morgan's pills and a fresh glass of water. When he returned to Morgan's room, he was still exactly where he had been before. He accepted the proffered pills and water and swallowed them down quickly.

"Move over," Hotch said. Morgan looked him in bewilderment and scooted a little closer to Hotch, who was standing by the edge of the bed.

"No, the _other _way over," Hotch said. Morgan, still looking baffled, dutifully moved over to the other side of the bed, still leaning against the headboard. "I don't want to sit on the floor, it's too uncomfortable," Hotch explained.

He took a seat next to Morgan and moved so that they were sitting side by side, Morgan and Hotch with their legs stretched out in front of them and backs resting against the headboard.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Hotch didn't really know how to begin this conversation and he didn't want to press Morgan to talk about things he wasn't ready to talk about so he just sat and hoped that Morgan trusted him enough to open up to him. Finally—

"I dreamed about Carl Buford." Morgan said quietly, his voice cutting sharply through the darkness.

"Morgan, you don't have to tell me if-," Hotch started but Morgan cut him off.

"It's okay Hotch. I think I need to get this out." Morgan took a deep breath before continuing. "I was a kid again and I was at this cabin. I couldn't remember how I got there so I started to walk around the place. I saw a light on in a bedroom and the door was closed. I went over and opened the door, poking my head inside. I saw Carl on the bed. He saw me and patted a spot on the bed next to him saying, 'Come over here Derek. I want to play a game with you'."

Hotch wanted to tell him to stop; that he didn't need to talk about something so traumatic, but Morgan was clearly lost in the memory, his gaze far away in a terrible place that Hotch couldn't even imagine.

"I turned and ran out of the cabin. I was sprinting through the woods, not knowing where I was going but just trying to get away. I finally stopped after a while and leaned against a tree, panting. When I finally caught my breath, I turned around and saw Buford standing right behind me. 'Lets go Derek,' he said, grabbing my arm and hauling me back towards the cabin. I fought as hard as I could to get free, screaming for you to help me. Then he brought me into the cabin and..." Morgan trailed off.

Hotch wrapped his arm around Morgan's shoulders and pulled him into a sideways hug.

Morgan seemed to dissolve suddenly and melt into Hotch's side, his head resting midway between Hotch's shoulder and his chest, his fingers tangling themselves in Hotch's t-shirt. And Hotch could feel Morgan shaking with silent sobs that made Hotch's chest ache with empathy.

If anyone deserved to have a good cry and be comforted in the process right now, it was Morgan. Knowing how Morgan hardly showed emotion to prevent people from thinking he was weak, it just showed how much damage Carl Burford had done. He tightened his arms around Morgan as he wondered how long the young man had been carrying this burden of pain alone on his shoulders; how many nights he had cried alone with no one to comfort him.

Once Morgan's sobs died down, Hotch handed him a Kleenex and they sat in silence, upper bodies still tangled together.

"Sorry, Hotch," Morgan said quietly.

"You need to stop apologizing for things that are not your fault," Hotch rebuked gently.

"It's just….sometimes everything just gets to me, you know? And I don't want to be a baby because I know I'm an adult and everything. But no matter how hard I try I can't keep it in," Morgan said, obviously embarrassed by his previous tears.

"Don't keep it in, Derek. You'll just end up like me then," Hotch said, shaking his head.

"But Hotch, I want to be like you," Morgan said very quietly. Hotch wasn't sure what to say to that.

They sat in silence for a long time then. Hotch glanced down after awhile, wondering if Morgan was asleep. But his eyes were open, although he was blinking slowly every few seconds.

"Do you think you could try to go back to sleep now?" Hotch asked, his tone hushed.

Morgan nodded against him and slid down so that he was lying down, his head on the pillows. Hotch scooted over and off the bed.

"I'm just going to grab the chair, okay? I'll be right back," Hotch said and Morgan just blinked sleepily at this. Hotch hadn't cried in years but he remembered how bone tired it made you afterwards.

He went and grabbed the desk chair and pulled it over next to Morgan's bed. Morgan had his eyes closed and his breathing was low and even. Hotch reached out to feel Morgan's forehead, it felt hot but not dangerously so. He moved his hand to Morgan's shoulder and laid it there protectively. Hotch didn't know why he left it there but it was making Morgan smile so he left his hand there until he was certain that Morgan was asleep.

He knew that he could probably leave now that Morgan was down for the count, but he went and got some paperwork and stayed in his chair working for the next couple of hours, mulling over the revelations of the night and keeping his fingers crossed that Morgan wouldn't have another nightmare.

Morgan had said that in his dream he kept calling for Hotch to help him but Hotch never came. Well, he was going to sit here and guard Morgan from his demons tonight. It wasn't much. But it was definitely something.

* * *

"Hotch, do you suppose that Lord Voldemort has to eat and drink?"

Hotch looked up from his work in bewilderment. It was Monday and although Morgan was doing much better, he still wasn't well enough to go back to work. He had spent the day at the apartment having a Harry Potter marathon while Hotch went back in to work. It was now the evening and they were both sitting on the couch, Morgan still mindlessly watching and Hotch filling out paperwork.

"Why would I know the answer to that? And why would I care?" Hotch asked.

"I dunno. I'm just saying that if Harry Potter can kill him that means that he's technically alive. And if he's technically alive that means he has to eat and sleep and stuff. But I can't really imagine that— it would totally ruin his image as the Dark Lord if he was like 'oh hey, we'll have to wait til after dinner to kill those muggles; I want some sushi' or if he was like 'hey we can't attack Hogwarts yet, I've gotta go take a piss,' you know?" Morgan rambled, obviously proud of this train of thought.

"You need help," Hotch said.

"I do not! You try watching Harry Potter all day and we'll see what kind of thoughts _you _come up with," Morgan said before descending into a coughing fit. Thankfully the coughing was starting to clear up and was fewer and farther in between each time.

"Here," Hotch said, handing him his inhaler. Morgan took two deep puffs and relaxed as air began filtering through his infected lungs again.

"Garcia asked about you about 8 times today," Hotch said conversationally. "She wanted to come by and mother you to death but I managed to hold her off."

"More like smother me to death," Morgan grinned cheekily. The kid was in an odd mood tonight, Hotch mused before glancing at his watch.

"Alright, Lippy, time for bed," Hotch said, turning the TV off and steering Morgan into his room.

"Aww, come on, Hotch. It's only nine o'clock!" Morgan protested, sounding like a five-year-old that didn't want to take a nap.

"Yes, it's nine o'clock and you still have a slight fever," Hotch said, quickly feeling Morgan's forehead before he could squirm away. "You'll never make it back to work at this rate."

Morgan grumbled and Hotch shot him a look.

Then Morgan got a serious expression on his face as he looked up at Hotch.

"Hey, Hotch?" Morgan asked tentatively. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for getting sick— well, not really; I couldn't exactly help it— but I _am_ sorry that you've had to spend all this time taking care of me. I appreciate it and don't worry, I'll pay you back for the hospital bill. I can't pay you back right now because most of my money is in the bank but once I get some money from the bank I swear I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it. People get sick. It's not a big deal. And I would happily pay that money so that one of my best agents could get better and get his butt back to work." Hotch replied.

* * *

**Author's note: The next chapter is my favorite one so far. In the next chapter Morgan will be acting like a kid because of the pain killers he is taking. I hope you enjoy it! I'll post it tomorrow.**


	23. Chapter 23

"Time for more pills," Hotch declared, heading into the kitchen and rummaging around for Morgan's prescription bottle.

"_Hotch_," Morgan whined.

"_Morgan_," Hotch mimicked.

"No, I don't need them anymore!" Morgan tried to insist. "Come on, Hotch, you _know _I don't like them. They make me all loopy and weird."

"I fail to see how 'loopy and weird' is any different from the way that you normally are," Hotch said, passing Morgan a glass of water and two pills.

"But I'm only just starting to feel like myself again, Hotch. And I'm tired of sleeping! Can't I just take one? I promise I'm fine," Morgan said, his eyes wide and sincere.

Hotch sighed as he removed one of the pills and put it back in the bottle while Morgan downed the other.

Morgan grinned at this, but Hotch noticed that it seemed a bit forced— Morgan's face was pale and his mouth looked unusually taut.

"You need to take that second pill, I know you're still don't feel good," Hotch said firmly.

Morgan just nodded, one hand going up to massage his head. Hotch quickly went to the kitchen- Morgan must have been feeling pretty bad to actually admit it. The young man just _really_ hates taking pills.

He passed Morgan the second pill and waited for him to take it before reaching over and grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch and passing it to Morgan.

"What's this for?" Morgan asked in confusion.

"Well, every time you take a full dose of these pain meds, you either fall asleep or you go out of your head and start rambling. Either way, you might as well be comfortable," Hotch said logically.

Morgan scowled. "I do not start rambling! And I can stay awake, I'm not a little kid," he said defensively, taking the blanket nevertheless and burrowing himself in it so that only his face peeked out from the soft material.

"You sang the entirety of '99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall' yesterday," Hotch said pointedly.

"Oh," Morgan said pensively, looking startled at this revelation. "Did I really sing the whole thing?"

"I don't know; why don't you ask the neighbors? Several of them came by to complain about the noise. I'm sure they'd be able to tell you more about the experience," Hotch said wryly.

"Well, just because I sang one innocent little song—"

"—for two hours—" Hotch added helpfully.

"— doesn't mean I was 'out of my head,'" Morgan claimed defiantly.

"You also cried while watching women's figure skating yesterday," Hotch reminded him casually.

"Hey! That girl had had a rough season, alright? She had a growth spurt and it was throwing off her equilibrium in her jumps and she was thinking of quitting skating altogether. But then she overcame adversity and won the gold anyway," Morgan said defensively, but was blushing bright red. "Sorry that I was feeling compassion and sympathy for her plight!"

"You cried," Hotch repeated.

Morgan sulked for a while after that— or rather; he sulked for five minutes before passing out into a deep, relaxing sleep on the couch again as Hotch had expected. Hotch just rolled his eyes affectionately.

* * *

Hotch wanted to bang his head against the wall. Morgan been a real handfull These past few days because of his pain killers and he we driving Hotch crazy.

"I belive I can fly!" Hotch suddenly heard Morgan sing/yell from the living room, pulling him from his thoughts. "I belive I can touch the sky!"

"Oh shit!" Hotch muttered, sprinting to the living room.

"I dream about it every night and day!" Morgan continued as Hotch ran into the room. Hotch cursed again.

Morgan was standing on the couch with a sheet tied around his neck like a cape.

"I spread my wings and FLY AWAY!" Morgan finished, grabbing his 'cape' and about to jump off the couch.

"Derek Morgan!" Hotch yelled. Morgan froze. "Sit your ass down on that couch right now!"

Morgan kicked his legs out from under him and he plopped onto the couch.

Hotch walked over. "What in the hell do you think you were doing?"

"Trying to fly." Morgan told him.

Hotch made a mental note to not give Morgan any more pain killers.

"Humans can't fly, Derek." Hotch explained like he was talking to a small child, which was exactly how Morgan was acting right now. "They have to be in an airplane, or a hot-air balloon, or even a jet pack, or some kind of machine so they can fly."

"But birds, air-planes, helicopters, and even insects can fly, but why not us?" Morgan asked. "Have you ever even _tried _to fly?"

Hotch dropped his head in his hand. He ran the hand down his face in frustration before looking back at Morgan. "Yes Morgan, I have. I tried it when I was a kid. So have many other people. It has never worked. Almost all of them had to go to the hospital and had to take pills to help them with their injuries. Do you want to take more pills?"

Morgan shook his head.

"I didn't think so. Now I am going to go take a shower. Don't move your ass!" Hotch ordered. Morgan nodded.

Hotch walked back into the livingroom a half an hour later and saw a fort that was made out of sheets, blankets, and pillows.

Hotch peeked into the fort and saw Morgan asleep with his butt still planted on the couch cushion from earlier. Morgan had found a lupole because his butt hadn't moved from the cushion.

Hotch chuckled and started taking down the fort.


	24. Chapter 24

Reid was acting weird the week after Morgan went back to work. Everyone saw it and whenever some one asked him about it, he just lied and said that nothing was wrong. His eyes told a different story. Those expressive brown eyes showed he was hurting deeply. It was killing Hotch to see the pain in the young man's eyes. He just didn't know how to make Reid tell him what was wrong.

* * *

One day Hotch stopped by Reid's house because he forgot his phone on his desk . Hotch saw smoke coming from the backyard and walked over. There he saw Reid sitting in a lawnchair in front of a fire with a beer in his hand. Hotch took a seat next to him and Reid passed him a beer.

Hotch turned and looked at the younger man. "Alright Reid, what's going on with you this week."

Reid shrugged and Hotch shot him a look. After a few seconds Reid sighed and handed Hotch a letter. Hotch saw it was from Reid's dad. It said:

_Do you think you are some hot shot because you're a cop now with all of those PHDs? I have been watching you. Your whole team looks like they would be able to fight two people at once and still win. You would get your ass kicked even if someone used only one hand. You are just a know-it-all little wimp. Try using that big brain and see that your team doesn't really like you. All they like is your brain. They are just using you and you are just too stupid to realise it. Some genius you are! All you are is worthless trash that can be used and then thrown away. They are probably laughing at you right now. Open your eyes and see that they don't care about you. No one does. Face it. No one will ever love you._

Hotch felt like he was about to explode. He wanted to find Reid's dad and plow him into the ground. "Reid, you know that he is wrong, right?"

Reid nodded but he didn't look too convinced.

"Spencer, look at me." Hotch said. "We care about you. We love your brain but we also love alot of other things about you. Emily loves that she can talk to you about anything and you are there to listen to her problems. Morgan loves that you are there to goof off with,and he shows he cares by teasing you. Rossi loves that he gets to have an intelligent conversation with you. JJ loves you because how funny you are. I love that you are so caring and selfless, always putting others before yourself. You are always trying to help someone. People trust you with their secrets because they know you would never tell anyone. The whole team loves and cares about you Reid. Always remember that."

Reid smiled at his boss. He felt stupid for thinking that his dad might be right. He grabbed the letter from Hotch and threw it into the fire. They sat back and fell into a comfortable silence as they watched the fire burn the letter to ashes.

* * *

Hotch walked out of the BAU and saw Reid on the phone with someone. He could see the young man was clearly upset. 'Is that your father?' Hotch mouthed to him, pointing to the phone. Reid nodded and leaned his head back against the building. Hotch snatched the phone away from Reid and yelled into it, "William Reid, this is Spencer's boss and he has told me about you harassing him and has showed me the letter you wrote. If you _ever _try to even contact him again, I will hunt you down and arrest you. I am a man of my word so you had better watch out and keep away from Spencer." Hotch slammed the phone shut and calmly passed it back to Reid. Then he gave the young man a pat on the shoulder before walking back into the building, leaving Reid standing there with his jaw dropped.

"Hotch," Reid said as he popped his head into Hotch's office. "Thank you."

"Don't let anyone treat you like that Spencer. You come and tell me or Morgan if someone talks to you like that." Hotch ordered.

Reid laughed. "I don't think I would tell Morgan, he would plow the person into the ground. I'll stick with just coming to you."

Hotch chuckled and nodded in agreement


	25. Chapter 25

Morgan nudged Reid's elbow and slid a note over as they sat next to each other at the latest budget meeting.

**Pretty Boy! You want to play a game? **

_Yeah! What game is it?_

**Alright, so we are going to write a story. I write one sentence then you write the next sentence in the story. It turns out really weird.**

_Sounds like fun!_

**Okay. Here's the first sentence: A man named John walked into a bar. **

_A gay guy named Joey walked over and said, "Hey, I'm Joey."_

**"Um, hi. I'm John." John replied sitting down at the counter.**

_"So, Johnny boy. You want to came back to my place and I could whisper in your ear, if you know what I mean?" Joey flirted._

**John choked on his beer, almost falling off the stool he was sitting on.**

_Joey reached over and grabbed John to steady him, saying, "It's okay Johnny. I'll take you home and take care of you._

**"Get away!" John coughed, running out the door. **

_"Baby come back! Johnny!" Joey called, chasing John._

**"Ahhhhh! Stalker!" John screamed as he ran down the street, with Joey right behind him. **

_"Johnny Boy! I'll treat you good!" Joey promised._

**"No! Go away you crazy psycho!" John yelled back. **

_Joey tackled John and started kissing him all over his face. _

Morgan was struggling not to bust out laughing.

**"Rape!" John screamed at the top of his lungs. "This is rape!"**

_"Boy, if you don't want him, I'll take him," another gay guy named Harold said as he walked up to them. _

**John was so confused but relieved as he watched Harold and Joey walk away holding hands. "What the fuck?" He mumbled to himself. "What is going on with people tonight?"**

Their story was over because Emily leaned over and whispered, "What are you two little girls giggling about over there?"

Morgan passed over their story and he could see Emily struggle not to laugh too as she read it.

Hotch glanced over at his team and saw them passing notes and giggling but decided to let them have their fun. It's not like anyone was really listening to the man talking in the front of the room. Rossi was drawing pictures and Hotch had been going through his emails on his phone.

Rossi leaned over and whispered to the three young agents, "Children, settle down now."

They snickered and Emily replied, "Sorry Uncle Davey."

Rossi smiled and reclined in his chair, as Hotch smirked and rolled his eyes.

Emily saw Strauss walk into the room and elbowed JJ to wake her up.

Strauss pointed to Hotch and his team. "Follow me. Urgent case. Can't wait." She walked back out of the room.

The team scrambled up from their seats and hurried after her.

* * *

Hotch was in the middle of a conversation with Rossi when he glanced out the window then whispered, "What the hell?"

Hotch turned to see what he was looking at and saw Morgan chasing Reid around the bullpen. "Shit," he muttered as he ran out the door. He leaned against the railing on the catwalk and pointed to Morgan and Reid as he called out, "You two!"

They skidded to a stop and turned to face him.

"What is going on?" Hotch asked.

"Hotch, Reid stole my phone!" Morgan whined.

"But he took my bag first and wouldn't give it back!" Reid added.

Hotch sighed. "Morgan, hand over Reid's bag."

"But Hotch-!" Morgan complained. Hotch shut him up by giving him a look. Morgan grumbled but passed over the bag back to Reid.

"Reid, give Morgan his cellphone," Hotch ordered. Reid handed Morgan his phone. "Now both of you behave." With that Hotch turned and walked back into his office, with Rossi smirking as he followed.

_He is really becoming their father,_ Rossi thought to himself, then smiled. _I think he knows how he is acting and kind of likes it._

* * *

Rossi sat at the bar with Morgan and Reid. Rossi didn't drink anything because he was their ride home and he wanted to let the younger men have a good time. He was making sure that they weren't going to get to the point to where they would have hangovers in the morning. When the boys were on their third beer, Hotch called.

"Rossi," Rossi answered.

"Dave, did you get them home?" Hotch asked. "I know Morgan usually drives Reid but his car broke down and I'm assuming they went with you."

"They aren't home yet," Rossi said.

"Where are you guys?" Hotch asked.

"At a bar." Rossi confessed.

"_WHAT?!" _Hotch screamed into the phone. "You took my sons to a bar in the middle of the week, _knowing _that they have to work tomorrow?!"

_His sons, _Rossi thought. Slip up or not, Hotch still called Morgan and Reid his sons. "Aaron, relax. I'm here with them and I'm making sure they aren't drinking too much. They only had three beers."

"That's three beers too many," Hotch growled into the phone. "They shouldn't be drinking in the first place!"

"Alright, alright," Rossi grumbled. "I'll take them home." He hung up the phone and turned to Morgan and Reid. "Time to go home boys. Hotch called and he almost blew a gasket when I told him where we are."

"Why did you tell him!" Morgan pouted.

"Come on," Rossi laughed, walking towards the door. Morgan and Reid reluctantly followed.

* * *

**Author's note: This chapter had a lot of Daddy Hotch in it because I keep getting reviews on how much people love it. Sorry it took a little while to update. I'm having major writers block. Please review, and I'm open for any suggestions.**


	26. Chapter 26

The team thought this was going to be a normal interview. They could not have been more wrong. Morgan, Reid, and JJ all walked up to the best friend of their latest victim's house.

"Mr. McCarthy?" JJ called as she knocked on the door. "Its the police. We would like to ask you a few questions about Bobby Fredericks."

Morgan was on the phone with Hotch as they stood by the door. The JJ heard the sound of someone loading a shotgun and immediately reacted. She tackled Morgan and Reid to the ground as a gunshot blasted through the door.

"Put down your weapon!" Morgan yelled as he pulled his gun out and aimed it at the door.

"Fuck off!" McCarthy screamed back. "I ain't going back to jail! Good luck trying to get me there you hippies!" Another gunshot blew through the door, wood flying onto the agents on the floor.

Morgan looked to his left and saw that Reid had grabbed Morgan's phone and was telling Hotch about what was happening. "JJ, cover the back so he doesn't escape. Reid and I will take the front and sides of the house." JJ nodded and crept away.

"Reid, what did Hotch say?" Morgan asked, keeping his eyes locked on the door as they ran behind some large rocks in the yard.

"He is on his way. He said to keep McCarthy busy until they get here," Reid answered. Reid had bearly finished talking before McCarthy burst through the front door with his shotgun. He was just about to shoot Reid when Morgan put four rounds into his chest.

JJ came running around the side of the building just as Morgan kicked away McCarthy's shotgun. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that they were uninjured.

* * *

Hotch skidded to a stop and jumped out of the car with Rossi right behind him. There were two ambulances parked there. Rossi went to the one that was loading a dead body into it while Hotch headed to the one where his team was sitting in the back.

"Ow!" Reid cried as a medic pulled out a large piece of wood from his leg. They all had cuts all over them.

"McCarthy shot at us through the door, " JJ explained. "The wood from the door cut us up a bit."

"Hotch, they said I have to go to the hospital!" Morgan cried. "Tell them I'm not going!"

The man who was wrapping a bandage around Morgan's bicep looked up. "Agent Morgan was grazed with a bullet and it might need stitches."

"_Might _need stitches. It could be a waste of time to go all the way to the hospital just to find out that I didn't even need stitches." Morgan pointed out. Then he turned to Hotch and gave him big puppy dog eyes and Hotch found himself caving.

"Fine Morgan, you don't have to go to the hospital," Hotch said. "Now I'm going to go talk with Dave." Then he turned and walked away.

"Hey JJ?" Morgan called to the blonde. "Thank you for saving our lives."

"Yeah, thanks," Reid agreed.

"No problem guys," JJ replied. "So are we cool?"

"Yeah," Morgan said, smiling at her. "We're cool."

* * *

Morgan called Garcia as he started packing up his things at the end of the day.

"Hello my chocolate God. What do I owe this pleaser?" Garcia said as she answered her phone.

"Hey Baby Girl. I wanted to know if you wanted to come over to my place and watch some movies tonight," Morgan explained.

"Is that all we would be doing?" Garcia asked suggestively.

Morgan laughed. "Unless you want to do more."

"Oh sugar," Garcia pureed.

"Yeah, I was thinking like eat popcorn too. Or if it's going to get _really _crazy, we could even have some soda!" Morgan joked.

Garcia laughed. "That's not exactly what I had in mind."

"Cotton candy?" Morgan guessed.

"You read my mind!" Garcia joked. "But yes Derek, I would love to come over."

"Alright, be at my house at 8:30." Morgan told her.

"Sounds like a plan Stan!" Garcia said.

"Bye Momma," Morgan said, hanging up the phone.

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry it's really short, but I'm having really bad writers block. The next chapter will be longer. But with the writers block, I don't know when I will update next. Just hang in there and please review! I also just posted a story called "The Accident" where Hotch's team except for Rossi are changed into kids and Hotch has to look after them. There will be alot of daddy hotch in it.**


	27. Chapter 27

"Spencer," a voice called.

Reid looked up from his desk and turned around. His jaw fell to the floor. "Dad?"

"So this is where you work," William Reid said, looking around the empty bullpen. It was late at night and Reid was one of the few agents still in the building.

"What are you doing here?" Reid asked.

William put his hands on his hips. "Now is that any way to talk to your father?"

"What are you doing here?" Reid repeated.

"I just wanted to see where my son works." William explained.

Reid narrowed his eyebrows. "Well now you've seen so you can go now."

William's face hardened. "Don't you use that tone with me boy!"

"Or what?" Reid challenged.

"You need to get your attitude in check," William growled.

Reid laughed. "I'm not afraid of you anymore Dad. I was just a kid when you were beating the shit out of me. Did that make you finally feel like a man? Taking out all your frustrations and anger on a little kid, knowing he couldn't fight back. I bet I was the only person you _could_ beat up because you were so weak and pathetic. Now I can fight back, so bring it on."

William punched Reid in the face, but before Reid could hit him back Hotch had tackled William to the ground and was punching him. Reid watched as his father and boss struggled for the upper hand. William was throwing a few punches but he was no match for Hotch. Reid could see a fire in his boss's eyes that he had never seen before. Reid was just glad that Morgan had already left or else they would have had to carry Willam out in a body bag.

It took four agents to finally pull Hotch off of William. They arrested William for assaulting Reid, and Hotch went into his office with Reid right behind him.

"H-Hotch-," Reid stuttered.

"Reid, why didn't you tell me your father was coming?" Hotch asked, cutting him off.

"I didn't know he was coming," Reid confessed.

Hotch nodded and held a towel to his nose, trying to stop the bleeding.

Reid felt like it was all his fault. "Hotch, I am so sorry about this. I'm sorry you had to get into a fight. I'm sorry you got hurt. I'm sorry that-"

Hotch cut him off. "Reid, this isn't your fault. William Reid had no right to come barging into your life again, trying to screw it up. I got into the fight and got hurt because I lost my temper when he hit you. I would do it all over again to if I saw someone treat you like that again. You don't deserve to be treated that way and you tell me if someone does. This isn't your fault, it's William's."

Reid nodded. Hotch never lied so if he said it was William's fault, Reid believed him.

Hotch started moving files around on his desk. "Reid, you should go home and get some sleep." He saw the look on Reid's face and continued. "Spencer I'm fine. Really. This isn't my first fight, remember?"

Reid smiled and nodded. On his way out he stopped in the doorway turned around. "Hey Hotch?" Hotch looked up. "Thank you."

Hotch smiled. "Anytime Reid. Good night."

* * *

Later that night Reid groaned as his phone went off. He lifted his head off his pillow and saw a text from Morgan. It said:

**Get your ass out of bed and join the chat room Emily and I are in!**

Reid sighed but got off his bed and stumbled over to his computer.

_Hey guys. _Reid typed when he logged in to the chat room.

**Hey Pretty Boy. I have a question.**

_What's your question? _

**We need you to settle an argument for us. Who do you think would win in a fight? John Cena or Spider Man? **

_How in the world did you guys get to that topic in the first place?!_

**... Long story. Just answer the question.**

_John Cena. All Spider Man can do is shoot webs. He has no body strength. If it was him with no powers then John Cena would definitely win. _

**Ha! Suck it Prentiss!**

**I didn't know that he wouldn't have his super powers, but what ever. **

_Can I go back to sleep now? Why are you guys even up at four in the morning?_

**Because it's Friday! **

_So?_

**You don't get out much kid. I just got back from hanging out with one of my old college buddies. **

**Yeah. And about an hour ago I came home from watching a fireworks show.**

**I bet Reid goes to bed every night at eight thirty.**

_Well statistics prove that if you go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning, you will be less tired during the day. _

**But I actually like to have a good time on our days off. **

**Hey Reid, Morgan and I are having a movie night tomorrow. You should come!**

_Okay. Should I bring a movie? _

**What movie?**

_Idk. Star Trek? _

**No.**

_Star Wars?_

**No.**

_Ummmmm. The Hangover? _

**You have The Hangover?**

_My ex-girlfriend bought it for me. She loved that movie and always wanted to watch it with me when she came over. _

**Sweet! Bring it over tomorrow. Be here by nine. **

_Alright. Now I'm going back to bed. Goodnight._

**Night Reid.**

**See ya tomorrow Pretty Boy!**


	28. Chapter 28

Reid sat at the bar of a night club a few chairs away from Morgan when a girl approached him.

"Hey there sweetheart. What are you doing all by yourself?" The woman asked him.

"I'm waiting to drive my buddy home," Reid replied, pointing to Morgan.

"Well why don't you have a drink while you wait?" She offered.

Reid looked over her beautiful features as he stuttered, "I-uh-sure-um-yes. Yes, I would love a drink."

She leaned over Reid to get the bartender's attention, her cleavage right in his face.

"I am Kelly by the way," the woman said as she sat next to him.

"I'm Spencer," Reid replied.

"So what do you do for a living?" Kelly asked.

"I don't feel comfortable displaying that information to you," Reid told her.

"Oooh. You're the secretive type. I like that Spence," Kelly whispered seductively in his ear, hand resting on his abdomen.

Just then Reid's phone rang. He fumbled with it before finally answering it. "Yeah Hotch?"

"We have a case," Hotch told him. "I need all of you back here so we can do a quick briefing before getting onto the plane."

"What? _Now_?" Reid asked.

"Yes now," Hotch replied.

"Urrr. I'll be there in fifteen minutes." Reid growled, before hanging up. He turned to Kelly. "That was work. I have to go."

"Awwwww. Can't you stay for a little bit longer?" Kelly pouted, moving her hand a little lower.

Reid was seriously considering calling Hotch back, saying he was sick and couldn't make it. Then he felt Morgan pulling him off the stool and dragging him to the exit.

"Come on Romeo," Morgan teased. "We have to go to work."

"What? No! Morgan!" Reid cried, but by that time they were already out of the club.

* * *

At the briefing Reid was pouting. Morgan passed him a note.

**Come on Loverboy, cheer up.**

_No. _

**Was the girl that was hitting on you at the bar DTF? **

_What does that stand for?_

**Never mind. But cheer up.**

_Why?_

**Because now you get to spend your weekend with me!**

Reid cracked a smile.

_Why would I be happy about that? It sounds more like a punishment to me._

**Wow kid! I try to make you happy and this is the reward I get?!**

_Yup._

**-_- Thanks kid. I'm really feeling the love! **

_Anytime. ;) _

* * *

**Author's note: I know that this chapter was REALLY short but I have an idea for the next chapter and wanted to see what you guys would think. I think I might do a crossover with either Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit , NCIS, or Burn Notice for the next chapter. What one should I do?**


	29. Chapter 29

**Author's Note: Nine people voted for NCIS so here it is! Sorry if this doesn't make sence for those of you who haven't watched the show.**

* * *

There were a string of murders in D.C. so Hotch and his team were called from another department in the FBI to investigate. When they figured out who the next victim would be, they headed straight over to her house.

They seen two black SUVs parked in the street and there was sign of forced entry. Hotch, Morgan, and Emily went in through the front while Rossi, Reid, and JJ headed towards the back. They stormed in all at once and saw two men in the livingroom and a man and woman in the kitchen. They all had guns.

"Freeze!" Hotch yelled as they raided the house. They all pointed their guns at Hotch's team as they entered. Everyone started shouting at once with their guns trained on the other group.

"Who the hell are you?!" a man with short brown hair demanded.

"No, who the hell are _you_?!" Morgan countered.

"Morgan!" Hotch snapped at the same time an older man with gray hair and a military hair cut growled, "DiNozzo!"

"We are FBI," Hotch explained, showing them his badge. "We work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quanico. We are here about the serial murders."

The older man held out his badge as well. "NCIS. We are here because the last two victims were petty officers. This one will be the third." He pointed to the body at his feet. "We got a call at NCIS. This woman, Petty Officer Jannet Brooks, had called and was panicing because someone was in her house trying to kill her."

Hotch put his gun away. "Agent Fornell told me he needed our help. We profiled the Unsub and with the help of our technical analist we were able to predict that this would be his next vicim. I guess we arrived too late too late to save her."

"Fornell?" a man with buzzed hair said.

"Unsub?" The brown haired man mumbled, confused.

"It stands for unknown subject," Emily told him.

"Boss, did Fornell tell you about this?" the buzzed hair man asked the older man.

The older man shook his head, holstering his gun and pulling out his phone. Hotch grabbed his phone and called Strauss.

Everyone else put thier guns away too. They introduced each other as their bosses were on the phone, trying to sort out who had juristiction on this case.

"So Emily, have you ever been at NCIS?" Tony asked, leaning against the wall and trying to look cool.

"No, I haven't," Emily confessed.

"Maybe I can give you a tour when we get there. I have a feeling Director Sheperd will want us to sort it out at NCIS." Tony offered.

"Alright," Emily smiled. She was atracked to Tony. He had good-looks and a charming smile.

Hotch hung up his phone and sighed. "We are heading to NCIS with Gibbs and his team. Strauss is talking to Director Shepherd over who is taking lead on this investigation."

"What?!" Morgan cried. "That's bull! Hotch we were working on this case first!"

"Morgan! This is non-negotiable. We have our orders and we will follow them. Understood?" Hotch growled.

"Yes sir," Morgan mumbled sarcastically.

Hotch sent him a death glare and was about to say something but Tony didn't give him a chance.

"Alright! To NCIS we go! Come on Agent Prentiss!" Tony said, hooking his arm with Emily's and dragged her out the door. Emily was laughing as she hung on his arm.

* * *

Emily was with Tony at his desk, Morgan was with Ziva, Hotch was with Gibbs, and Reid was talking about the scientific errors in movies with McGee, when the Director of NCIS walked into the bullpen.

"I talked to your boss, and we agreed to let the BAU lead the investigation but everyone will have to work here," she told everyone.

"There Morgan, we are still lead in the investigation. Done whining now, or are you going to throw another tantrum?" Emily teased.

"Shut up Prentiss," Morgan mumbled but couldn't help the smile that crept onto his lips. He was embarrassed about his behavior earlier.

"Well now that you are going to be staying here for a little while, why don't I take you on that tour now?" Tony suggested.

"Sure," Emily replied.

"DiNozzo, go see Abby while you're at it. See if she got anything from the victim's house." Gibbs ordered.

Tony nodded. "You got it boss!"

Tony stood up from his desk, put his hand on the small of Emily's back, and started leading her towards the elevator, saying in a fancy accent, "This way my dear."

Emily laughed and replied in the same accent, "Thank you kind sir."

This time it was Tony's turn to laugh.

* * *

"Hey Abbs," Tony greeted a goth woman in front of a bunch of computers. "This is Agent Emily Prentiss with the BAU. They are gonna help us with the serial killer. Emily, this Abby Sciuto, our forensic specialist. She is the happiest goth you will ever meet."

"Nice to meet you," Emily said holding her hand out for a handshake but was surprised when Abby ran up and hugged her. She awkwardly hugged her back.

"Oh yeah, she is is a BIG hugger," Tony added.

"Yeah Tony, I kinda got that," Emily chuckled as Abby finally released her.

"So Abbs, whatcha got for us?" Tony asked.

"Ducky found some skin under the victim's fingernails," Abby told them as she skipped back to her computers. "I'm running the DNA now but haven't gotten any matches so far."

"Ducky?" Emily whispered to Tony.

"Our ME," Tony whispered back, his lips almost touching her ear.

Emily had to suppress a shiver of pleasure at the feel of his hot breath on her neck. She really liked Tony.

Morgan walked in just then and stopped in his tracks when he seen Tony that close to Emily. Forgetting the whole reason he came down there, he turned and stomped back to the elevator. The protective big brother inside of him flared up when he saw that. He was going to keep a close eye on Tony.

* * *

On the third day of their investigation Tony invited Emily to grab a drink with him. By the time Morgan texted her she was already drunk.

**Em, I need to talk to you about this case.**

**Cnt t wit til tmorw?**

Morgan cocked an eyebrow at the text, trying to puzzle it out. He guessed it was supposed to say 'Can't it wait until tomorrow?'.

**I wanted to talk to you now, Emily. Can you come over?**

**m bsy!**

**You're busy doing what? Drinking? **

**Thts nne of yor busnes.**

**Yes it is my business! You're my partner! It's my job to keep tabs on you!**

Emily just shoved the phone back into her pocket and didn't text him back. "Let's get out of here," she told Tony.

Tony nodded and followed her out the door. When they got outside he wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked down the sidewalk. He started cracking jokes about McGee and Emily busted out laughing. Buried her head in his chest as they laughed together. They got to Emily's apartment and stopped at her front door.

"Thanks for taking me out tonight, Tony. I had fun." Emily said.

"Anytime, Em," Tony replied.

Emily gave him a hug before walking into her apartment.

Tony leaned against the door and wondered what they were going to do when the case was over. Would she talk to him again? Would they keep seeing each other? Would McGee and Reid still keep in touch? They had alot in common. What about Gibbs and Hotchner? They seemed to hit it off. Who knows what will happen? One thing is for sure though, he would definitely want to see Emily Prentiss again. There is something special about her. There is something special about all of her team. Tony shook his head as he walked away from the door. Maybe both teams will never see each other again, or maybe they could become best friends. Who knows?


End file.
